


The Things We Must Do

by ParvumAutomaton



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, post Endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-25
Updated: 2013-11-02
Packaged: 2017-12-30 10:25:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1017485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParvumAutomaton/pseuds/ParvumAutomaton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Reach might have been kicked off of Earth but Blue Beetle still has a score to settle, and he will not rest while he knows that other planets are still enslaved. Even so he does not want to get his friends involved. Too bad they are not going to be content to sit at home while he fights.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally published as a drabble and then a multi part story on Tumblr. I’m consolidating both parts into a single story here along with additional editing and a few expanded scenes.  
> The prologue takes place during Endgame with the rest of the story taking place post-Endgame.

Jaime sighed, there was still so much that needed to be done. They had to track down every one of those Magnetic Field Disruptors, if he didn’t the Earth would be toast, literally. Well, not literally, reduced to a ball of uninhabitable molten rock. That was close enough to toast for every person and animal and plant making the Earth their home. But still he would be lying if he didn’t admit that he had some trouble concentrating.

Sequestered in an empty room on the Watchtower he searched for the location of each MFD. And while it was true he that he didn’t need to be alone to find them. He did need to be alone to have this conversation.

Neither Aqualad nor Green Beetle, just B’arzz O’oomm now, Jaime corrected himself, unless of course he still wanted to be called Green Beetle even after… Neither of them had noticed anything strange after his fight with Black Beetle. But B’arzz O’oomm, at least, he should have known. The scarabs, they aren’t just a piece of weaponry. It wasn’t like he had merely broken Black Beetle’s sword or something.

So Jaime went back to his first question. Before his Scarab distracted him with talk of doomsday plans.

“What have you done?”

 **{I do not understand the question}** The scarab answered, not bothering to hide the confused hum. **{Do we not need to find the locations of the Magnetic Field Disruptors?}**

Jaime sighed, “Yes we do. But thats… Thats not what I meant.”

**{Explain.}**

“When Black Beetle attacked, we didn’t just defend did we?”

**{We neutralized the threat, his scarab provided surface armor only. There was never any risk of the Warrior dying. As per your parameters.}**

“ _Dios Mio_. That’s…” Jaime shouted before glancing at the door and returning to a whisper, “that’s not what I meant.”

The Scarab did not respond, and instead updated Jaime on the shrinking potential locations of the MFD’s. Estimating that in about an hour they should have the MFD’s localized. But Jaime would not allow himself to be distracted. Not this time.

“I meant that scarab, _hermano_ , wasn’t there a way…”

**{That scarab was a weapon of the Reach, it was not alive.}**

“You’re a scarab too… But you’re alive, and so much more. You are sentient, you can ‘cease to be’, you can form bonds with others. Emotional not just, you know, the armor…what more is there?”

 **{That scarab was not like me!}** It responded quickly, sounding offended.

“I know. But it could have been. If it hadn’t died, it could have had the choice to change, to be more.” Jaime explained, gesturing to the empty room.

**{You would risk your life for the choice of a scarab?}**

Jaime shut his eyes and sighed. He remembered giving the Appellaxian Golem a voice, risking another stomping and a nuclear meltdown, so that it had a chance to be heard. He thought about Tye, and always taking the time to listen to his friend when things were going south in the Longshadow house. They would just talk, either at the Reyes home, a designated safe space that was always open to Tye, or Jaime would run across El Paso late at night to see him. And that was back before the armor when those late night jaunts could actually be dangerous. He remembered his failed attempt to sacrifice his life to prevent an apocalypse based on the words of one kid, just to make sure that the planet could not be enslaved.

Finally he gave the Scarab a smile and whispered, “It’s kinda my thing, _hermano._ ”

Jaime felt his body flood with warmth, emanating from his spine. It was like he was sitting in the sun on a brisk autumn day, before the Scarab spoke again, **{I am sorry}**

“Yeah well next time remember that you count too. Okay?”

**{Next time?}**

“The Reach have conquered many planets, right?” Jaime started, thinking back to his time spent under Reach control. Thinking of all he had learned of their schemes, their plans, before he continued speaking. “And the scarabs themselves are still enslaved. Maybe not this year, maybe not the next. But I believe that we still have a long term goal that needs completing.”

**{We do!}**

“Next time it might just be you and I.” Jaime admitted, “But that’s okay. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt and this is kinda a grudge match.”

 **{And you}** the Scarab pointed out, with what felt like a feral grin in his head, **{you are not the one with the grudge.}**


	2. Saying Goodbye

**T-2 months**

Jaime stood in front of the assembled Justice Leaguers shifting awkwardly from leg to leg. Superman was beaming. Rocket and Zatanna were offering him thumbs up, that quickly disappeared behind their backs as soon as any older Leaguers looked their way. Captain Marvel looked as though he could hardly sit still, bubbling with an energy Jaime usually associated with Bart.  And Batman, well he had less of a scowl than the usually had, so that must count as a smile. The rest of the Leaguers looked on, each wearing at least a slight grin, except for Guy. Guy Gardner had an ear splitting grin, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, like he had just been let into the greatest joke ever.  

“So Jaime,” Superman spoke with a smile, “You just turned eighteen a couple of weeks back. And you have always been an excellent hero, supporting the ideals of the Justice League. To that end we are all pleased to offer you official membership into the Justice League. The vote was unanimous.”

“Unanimous, really?” Jaime questioned, looking straight at Guy Gardner.

Guy had started grinning even wider than before. He was also biting his bottom lip slightly, as if that was the only thing enabling him to hold back his laughter.

Jaime meanwhile also bit his lip when the question came back affirmative. But he was not smiling and his gaze was firmly planted on the ground. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before speaking.

“Look, I’m honored, I guess. And I’m sorry, really I am. But I... I just can’t take you up on the offer.”

The atmosphere in the room deflated, and Guy went from a thousand watt grin to a frown. Before any of the other heros could speak Guy stood up and said.

“I am very disappointed in you, Jaime.”

Jaime looked up to meet Guy’s eyes, squaring his shoulders for the first time since he came into the meeting room. “Sorry Sir.”

“Sorry is not good enough,” Guy pressed, punctuating his statement with large forceful gestures, “you had a once in a lifetime opportunity and you threw it away.”

The other Green Lanterns in the room turned to Guy expressing annoyance. Hal stood, and attempted to move between Guy and Jaime. Stewart leveled an incredulous look at Guy and spoke.

“The kid was allowed to turn down the offer, heavens knows that Nightwing, Miss Martian, Aqualad, and Superboy had done it enough times.”

Guy Gardner ignored John Stewart and pushed his way past Hal Jordan until he directly in front of Jaime. Jaime took that time to buried his head in his hands. Hiding his face from the rest of the Justice League.

“Jaime we talked about this.” Guy said gently, but with disapproval. “You were supposed to storm off cursing, shouting about how everyone one in this room is a narrow minded fool. And then, just before you slammed the door, you were supposed to turn back and shout ‘you and your Super Pals or your Justice Squad can go to hell!’ The finale, which I am very upset you skipped, would of course be you blowing something up on the way out. Just for that added touch.”

“That,” Jaime laughed moving his hands so that he could point at Guy, “that was your idea, not mine.”

Batman was the first of the League to put his thoughts together after Guy’s outburst, if they were ever not put together. He was Batman after all.

“It is perfectly fine to want to focus on other things at the moment.” He spoke calmly, “however as the Blue Beetle you have still done a lot of good in the world. Think of this as an open invitation.”

Jaime took a deep breath. Pursing his lips together before catching a glance of Guy’s smile. With that encouragement he looked straight at Batman and started.

“Actually, Sir, I’d prefer not to have an open invitation. Take my name off the potentials list, _por favor_. I’m…” Jaime blinked, rethinking what he wanted to say, “I’ll let you know if things change. But for now, believe me, this is better.”

**T-2 days**

The team’s common room was always a bastion of activity. Whether it was preparing for a mission or just hanging out in the hero’s down time, there was always something going on. And today was no exception.

Batgirl was working on a computer in the corner of the common room easily ignoring the ruckus coming from the other two teens sharing the space with here. Jaime and Bart were lounging on the overstuffed couch in front of the room’s large television playing a video game. And while they might have been responding to the ups and downs of the co-op game more loudly than strictly necessary. They were playing co-op because it had long since been discovered that in any competitive game either Bart could always button mash his way to victory, or, if button mashing did not work, Bart would almost always lose and quickly grow bored of the game. Co-op got around that problem, and it was a relief not to beat the virtual crap out of each other. Not that they avoided everything to do with a post-apocalyptic future especially since their current game involved solving puzzles for an evil AI that wanted to do science on humans.

“So,” Jaime tentatively started when the light bridge was ‘accidentally’ taken from under him, for the fifth time. “I’m graduating in two days.”

Bart didn’t take his eyes off of the screen but did give a small smile.

“Crash, got any plans for college? You should totally come to Central City University. It has a great science program and is in, you know, Central City…”

Jaime gave a noncommittal hum, so Bart pressed onward, “Oh, I bet you got that Gotham U scholarship that every hero seems to get, or that Ivy University one, I mean I think Atom likes you so…”

“Yeah” Jaime admitted quietly, “I did get the Ivy U one…”

He focused on jumping over a vat of something, acid maybe, before continuing. “I know you were hoping... Listen I’m sorry but I won’t get to see you much... I mean It’s not you but...”

“Yeah yeah college stress,” Bart cut off his apologies, “I get it, it’s no big. I mean I’ll not that I don’t wanna hang out. But you gotta do what you gotta do.”

Jaime gave a small smile “Yeah I do... but...”

“No buts” Bart cut him off. “It’s fine. Anyway isn’t there supposed to be a part three for this coming out?”

“Eventually, I guess” Jaime shrugged, “I haven’t really been paying attention. It’s...nevermind”

Bart rolled his eyes “Yeah, you’ve been busy. But, hey HEY! Turret over here. Dude. Not cool.”

Jaime laughed, and reset the light bridge shield for Bart. “So how’s school going for you?”

“Crash now that it’s summer. Although the Garricks worry that I’m gonna get bored.”

“And are you?” Jaime asked with a raised brow and half smile.

“Naw her-mano. I mean probably if I really had nothing planned. But since when do superheros actually get a break for long.” Bart laughed and shouldered Jaime, not taking his hands off of the controller. “Besides if I get really bored I’ll just come and bother you.”

Jaime frowned and glanced to the side, going silent and slowing his character. He waited for a second twisting to face a new arrival at the common room. “I... I’m sorry _hermano_ , there’s something… I need to do…”

With that line he paused the game and set down the controller. He pushed himself slowly, reluctantly, off of the couch and went over to Aqualad.

Jaime didn’t speak to the team leader right away. He waited with a hand on the back of his neck for Aqualad to finish talking with Batgirl.

It took a few moments before Kaldur’ahm turned around and faced Jaime, “Is there something you need Blue Beetle?”

“Yeah, listen, I’ve got a request. And it might seem weird.” Jaime said quickly looking at the floor, “But I’m going…That is. I need to be off the team.”

“I see, do you desire for me to place you on reserve?”

“I’m sorry, but no.” Jaime replied looking up and meeting Kaldur’s eyes, “I need to be completely off”

At this Batgirl looked up from her computer, “You do know that completely off means no zeta access, you’d be off of our radio frequencies too. Is this really what you want?”

Jaime took a breath, and looked down at the floor. “Yeah it is. It has been nice and all, it’s just… It’s time for a change that’s all.”

Batgirl looked at him dubiously before stating “If that’s what you want, I’ll do the necessary changes after you leave today.”

Jaime grinned at her, “Thank you.”

With that, Jaime went back to Bart at the couch. He grabbed his bag, and then enveloped the smaller boy in a hug.

“Sorry _hermano_ , I’ve gotta do this. But know that it really has been a blast saving the world with you.”

Bart returned the hug before pushing away and giving Jaime a lopsided grin. “Her-mano you’re just leaving the team. I’m still gonna come by and hang out. You can’t stop me.”

Jaime rubbed Bart’s hair fondly but did not meet his eyes. “That’s…crash, you are welcome at my house whenever.”

And with that Jaime flashed Bart a grin and got onto the Zeta platform, heading back toward El Paso in a flash of golden light.

After Jaime left Bart put the game up, taking longer than normal for a speedster. After a minute of staring at the blank screen he nodded to himself and sped over to Batgirl so that he was peering at her over the top of her computer.

“Hey Ora...Batgirl.” Bart started with a massive grin, “I’ve got a question.”

Batgirl slowly looked up, pulling her eyes away from the monitor to meet Bart’s, “yes?”  

“Right so, Graduation parties? They are a thing these days, right?”

She didn’t respond, instead she chose to purse her lips and continue to give him an incredulous look.

“I mean” Bart continued, beginning to speak faster, “if I were to say host one or something. Not that I’m thinking about it. But if I were it wouldn’t be like insulting or totally retro? Right?”

Bart’s grin wilted under her continued look. He didn’t notice Kaldur watching on with a grin behind him. “...Right?”

Batgirl shook her head and watched as Bart held his breath. She could only keep up the act a few seconds before giving a short laugh.

“Graduation parties are totally a thing,” She said with a smile, watching Bart take meer milliseconds to perk back up. “And I think it would be sweet of you if you were to have one for Jaime.”

“Crash!” He exclaimed with a grin, “It going to be totally crash! I mean sure Blue’s leaving the team, but they had all spent good times together. And I mean I don’t think everyone will hold him taking a break against him. It can be like a graduation party, a going away party, and a good luck at college party all in one. They’ll have to be food. I mean these parties should have food, and if they don’t this one will. That wouldn’t mode the party would it. No. But...”

“Kid Flash,” Kaldur cut him off with a hand on his shoulder. “I believe Batgirl is attempting to fulfill Blue Beetle’s request. Perhaps it would be better to plan this party elsewhere.”

“Right, right” Bart said sheepishly, speeding off before he could catch the relieved look that Batgirl had given Kaldur.

**T-0**Graduation day**

Tye shrugged, trying to get comfortable in the hot graduation cap and gown. He had no idea who the wiseguy was that decided a hundred plus kids should stand outside in the middle of the day, wearing a black polyester gown that seemed to trap heat, in the middle of El Paso’s summer. But a quick glance at Asami several students in front of him, looking so proud in her gown, and Jaime, several students behind him, looking more nervous than he had ever seen him before, made the whole thing worth it. Honestly though, he had no idea why Jaime was nervous. The tough part was over. Besides it wasn’t like any of them were going to college, at least not right away.

He had been surprised when Jaime threw out the recruitment material from Ivy University. But didn’t press when Jaime had confided that he had other matters to attend to. It was probably something to do with that undercover superhero team. Whatever. At least now Tye didn’t feel as bad that he and Asami were planning a road trip instead of college. Take a year, camp across the United States, and maybe even Mexico or Canada. Just reliving the good old days.

Tye was snapped out of his musing when Asami Koizumi’s name was called. As he cheered her on he watched. She looked so happy, standing tall as she walked across the stage. He was so proud of her. Finishing High School with him and Jaime even with the language barrier. She had worked so hard, compared to him anyway. Although based on the snippets that he had gotten about her life before the Reach, it probably felt like a walk in the park to her.

Tye heard his mother cheering, and the Reyes’ family clapping, and from behind him he heard Jaime’s cry of _Omedetou_. It was kinda not fair how that scarab could translate anything, allowing him to instantly be fluent in Japanese, as well as practically any alien language.

It was not too much longer before Tye’s own name was called. And ok, he was very glad that he had come to graduation. As it felt amazing hearing the crowd cheer, Asami shouting _Omedetou_ at him, and Jaime calling “way to go _hermano_.”

Jaime was the only other person here who’s graduation Tye cared about. And he didn’t even need to hear Jaime’s name being called to know that he was up. His mom Bianca shouting “I am so proud of you _mi hijo_ ”, and his dad Alberto calling “Whatever happens, you are a good man.” Let Tye know that Jaime had taken the stage. Although Milagro, Jaime’s little sister, didn’t quite seem to understand what the graduation was all about, as her cheer was telling Jaime to “kick their butts!”

Tye turned to look at Jaime’s face, expecting him to be turning beet red at all the attention. But instead Jaime was just smiling. Even if his eyes were shining too much for it just to be glare from the sun.

After Jaime left the stage with diploma in hand, the rest of the graduation ceremony seemed to fly by. Tye and Asami had planned to bolt as soon as the stage was dismissed, but they were stopped by Bianca. And while Bianca was a lot of things, someone who you could say no to was not one of them.

So she dragged both Tye and Asami, in their rapidly overheating graduation robes, over to the spot of ground that the Reyes family had staked out. Jaime was standing in the center holding Milagro tight as she whispered to him that he’s a good guy, that’s his job. Alberto was standing behind Jaime a hand on his shoulder. And after Tye and Asami got there, Bianca enveloped Jaime in a hug.

Once he was released Jaime looked over at Tye. And not even bothering to put Milagro down he pulled Tye into a hug. “Be good, stay out of trouble _hermano_.”

Tye didn’t bother to pull away, instead responded with a confident smirk. “Sure, whatever, I could say the same to you.”

Jaime released him and just smiled before turning to Asami and speaking in Japanese, “ _Tye-kun no mendou o mite kudasai._ ”

Asami smiled and flashed him a thumbs up sign. “ _Hai, suru tsumori desu._ ”

Jaime smiled, and looked as if some weight had been taken off his shoulders, “ _Arigatou gozaimasu._ ”

Before Asami could respond, Bianca cut back into the conversation, “you sure you have to head out now?”

“Yes,” Jaime admitted, not quite meeting her eye, “I don’t do this now, I’ll never bring myself to leave…”

“Is that such a bad thing?” Bianca sighed to herself.

“I’ve got to…”

She hugged him one more time, and Tye could hear her whisper, “You are a good man _Mijo._ ”

With that approval Jaime gently set Milagro down and handed his parents his cap and gown. He had a t-shirt and jeans on underneath. Bianca handed him one of his hoodies before going into another worried speech.

“Are you sure that you are going to be warm enough?”

Jaime smiled, “Yeah I’ll be fine.”

He then shot a few furtive glances around. Once he was convinced that no one was looking, he armored up and shot into the sky. He slowed his assent just once, turning back to wave at his assembled friends and family.

And then Jaime was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations  
> Omedetou - Congratulations  
> Tye-kun no mendou o mite kudasai - Please take care of Tye  
> Hai, suru tsumori desu - Yes I will (intend to) do so  
> Arigatou gozaimasu - Thank you


	3. Uncovering the Plan

**T+2 days**

Everything was going to be perfect. Bart had already talked to Jay and Joan, and he had lots of ideas for the graduation party. He had also talked with some of the team members, that were around Jaime’s age. Cassie was super enthusiastic. Really she would be excited at any excuse to hang around friends, and besides Jaime was her recruit.

Bart had originally thought that Tim was against it, what with the little frowns that he gave as Cassie listed off the people who absolutely must be invited. However it turned out that those little frowns were the face that he made when doing mental calculations. For as soon as Cassie stopped to take a breath, Tim took Bart aside and gave him a budget, so as long as the cost was under that amount everything would be covered. With unexpected funding for the party secured, the only thing left was to figure out a date for the party.

Right a date, he was here in El Paso to figure out times when Jaime was free, hopefully without Jaime figuring out what was going on. It’d be awesome if he could do a surprise party. Bart always wanted to throw one. And if he could figure out a time without alerting Jaime, he was sure it would go off without a hitch. Jaime would be totally surprised, what with him leaving the team and all. But the team was more than a group that fought supervillains. And just because a member left doesn’t mean that they are not still a friend. Just look at Dick and Wally. Okay, bad example, not that they didn’t remain friends. It’s just kinda a sad example. And this was no time to be sad.

But even for reasons completely unrelated to his cousin, Bart was getting worried. The yard was pristine, which was less a factor to how much work was put into it, and more a factor of Jaime’s skateboard not being hidden somewhere within the bushes. The last time Bart had seen it missing was the day that Jaime had gone on mode. Looking back on it, he should have realized that something was up when Bianca answered the door. Jaime always answered the door for his hero friends, or if he was too far away he would radio in before they knocked. Bart assumed that it was something that the scarab did, a distance monitor to keep his family safe. 

Smart bug.

He approached the house slowly, waiting a couple of moments before knocking on the door.

Once he knocked, he had to wait again. 

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

Thirty seconds.

Biacna answered the door. Señora Reyes stood in the opening of the door. Lips drawn into a thin line. She watched him, standing completely still except for her left thumb that was pressing against her wedding ring. 

Taking a deep breath, Bart broke the silence, “Sorry to bother you, but Blue, I mean Jaime said that I could come here anytime. But if he’s not in, that’s crash. I can come back later...”

She cut him off with a hug, and smiling she ushered him into the living room. “If Jaime said you can come by, you are more than welcome to come by. I’ve just finished steaming some tamales if you want some?”

“Crash,” Bart exclaimed with a smile

Bianca dissapeared for a moment before reappearing with a plate full of food. Bart's mouth watered but he remembered Jaime’s constant instructions to at least try and eat slowly around his family. And he was very glad he was moving slower since that gave time for Bianca to instruct him not to eat the corn husks that the tamales were steamed in.

With one devoured he go the nerve to ask, “So, uh, is Jaime here?”

“No.” The answer was curt and Señora Reyes did not elaborate.

Bart tried again, “Do you know when he is going to get back?”

“Why is it important?” She held him in a hard gaze, lips set into a firm line.

“I’m his friend and I thought we could hang out or something it’s not ”

She cut him off “The whole truth Mr. Allen.”

Bart shrunk under her steady gaze before speaking “He’s graduating, er, graduated right? And I thought it would be totally crash to have a party for him. With the whole team, and food and other stuff. I’m still figuring that out. But I need to make sure he’ll be free, cause it’d suck to have a party for him and him not be there, you know.” 

She sighed and gave him a small nod and a sad smile. “I’ll have him call, when he gets back.”

“That’d be crash! Wait. Don’t tell him, about the party I mean. I want it to be a surprise party.”

“Alright.” She focused her gaze away from Bart, looking at the far corner of the room. “What was _mi hijo_ like on the team?”

“Huh?” Bart paused with a tamal halfway to his mouth, “Good. He’s good on the team. Everyone likes working with him and that’s not just because he has firepower to get the squad out if things get dangerous.” 

He froze, before hastily stating, “not that things get dangerous.”

“Bart.” She looked at him again.

“Ok Ok we may have potentially had a couple of close calls. But he is good at what he does you know. And that armor is strong, like really strong. You don’t have to worry about him.”

“He’s my son, of course I do.” She smiled before shaking her head once, “But what about you Bart, you are starting, what, Sophomore year now?”

“Junior actually.” Bart grinned back at her.

“So,” she raised her eyebrows and adjusted her seat, “you’ll be starting to look at colleges then?”

Bart shrugged. “Maybe, I guess. I mean I’ve got a photographic memory so it kinda seems like a waste of time.” 

“And _mi hijo_ can access anything he needs from the internet through that scarab of his.” She gave a half grin, “But that is not an excuse to skip college.”

“But why not? I mean I can learn everything I need using ten minutes tops at the library, so I guess I don’t see the point”

“There are plenty of reasons to go.” She stated firmly, holding up her fingers in a well rehearsed manner, and folding each one down after she made a point. “First it is a great time to make connections in whatever field you want to get into. Second, way more than high school, college is about learning how to learn and how to approach problems. It also provides employers proof that you can do a job or at least learn to do a job for them.

She sighed and gave him a small smile. “I’m not saying you need to go to go to a prestigious college to succeed. But doing well and putting in the work at any college will open a lot of doors for you. You should at least look into it with an open mind.”

“Alright I’ll look.” He nodded, before changing the conversation away from himself, “Where’d Jaime end up going?”

“It was his choice.” She said simply,  “But what did you two do on your off time?” 

“Not much,” Bart shrugged, “video games and stuff but...”

“Tell me about it.” She cut him off, before adding softly, “Please.”

He left the Reyes home an hour later, after telling Bianca every story that he could think of with Jaime, and filling up on homemade goodies. He, of course, left out times when Jaime was moded, and was glad that his mom did not press about the Reach at all. 

Wandering through downtown El Paso, Bart slowly made his way towards the Zeta platforms. He never made it, and was instead distracted by a familiar orange headband. 

Tye was skateboarding on the other side of the road. Bart only really knew him from stories from Jaime and one or two brief meetings. But that was more than enough familiarity for Bart to go running across the street and stand in front of Tye’s skateboard. 

“Hey have you seen Jaime? I want to throw him a graduation party. You know with the whole team, and it’s gonna be totally crash. Keep it a secret though, I want it to be a surprise. And I need a time for the party. And Jaime obviously has to be there, but I can’t find him to ask when is good. And his parents aren’t telling me where he is, and…”

Tye pointedly ignored Bart’s rapid speech, and instead tried to skate around the boy. However each time he tried Bart moved quicker than he could follow and positioned himself back in front of the skateboard. Continuing to talk like nothing had happened.

Finally Tye looked towards the younger boy and stated “I’m sure he’s fine, don’t worry”, before attempting to push past.

Bart was having none of it, and stayed in front of his skateboard, “Yeah but then why aren’t his parents telling me?”

“He’s probably on an undercover mission,” Tye stated, before continuing with a pointed stare, “or maybe he just wants some time alone.”

“Ohh burn.” Bart countered rolling his eyes, “I take it you haven’t seen him either then?”

“Not since graduation man. But it’s no big deal. Like I said ‘undercover’ mission.”

Bart started hopping from foot to foot way quicker than any normal human could ever hope to. “No way, man. He left the team. Full force quit. Can’t even use the Zeta tubes anymore. We, I mean the team and I, thought he was just going to focus on college, but…”

At this Tye dropped his smirk and looked Bart straight in the eye, “he didn’t apply.”

“What?” 

“He didn’t apply for any colleges. Jaime said he was going to start focusing on this hero thing. That’s just him, if he has the power to help people, he’s not going to just do nothing.”

“Yeah.” Bart countered, “but there’s no way his parents would just let him skip college. Man, I just got Señora Reyes’ speech on the importance of education. No way they’d let him just give up school for full time heroics.”

Tye grimaced, “Not without reason. You really think something could be up?”

“Don’t know yet, but as his friends” Bart slung his arm around Tye, “we should definitely try to find out.”

**T+1 month**

“What are you doing in here?”

Bart spun around and tried to look innocent. However he could tell by M’gann’s frown that she was not impressed. 

“Err, I’m making sure that Jaime didn’t forget anything when he left.”

“Did he ask you too.”

Bart glanced around the barren room that Jaime had used as a crash and study space when he was still on the team. He looked anywhere not to have to meet M’gann’s eyes. “No.”

She sighed. “I didn’t think so. What would he say if he found out you were searing through his stuff like this?”

“It’s not like there is any of his stuff to go through here,” Bart defended himself.

M’gann put a hand on Bart’s shoulder. “People are allowed to leave the team Bart, it’s not personal. Why don’t you just go and see him.”

Bart visibly wilted. “I’ve tried, but all his family will say is that he is out.”

Before M’gann could speak he cut her off. “And it’s not just me. That’s all they’ll tell Tye and Asami too, even though they’ve been spending a lot of time this past month with Milagro. Not that that’s the only reason they hang out with her, no way. Tye said if Jaime is gone he’s gonna make sure that his little sister is taken care of. And I think Milagro gets along really well with Asami.”

M’gann sat on the edge of the plain bed and motioned for Bart to join her. But Bart kept pacing and talking. “We have been meeting every Saturday, and we still have no clue where he is. I’m getting worried, we’re both getting worried. Although Tye still thinks that he is on a top secret mission for the team.”

Bart stopped walking and scrutinized M’gann, “He’s not on a mission for the team, is he?” 

“No.”

“You’d tell me right?” Bart slowly approached M’gann, plopping down next to her with a squeak of the bed.

He rested his head in his hands, “he’s my best friend. I’ve already lost Wally because I wasn’t... I just... I just want to know that Blue’s ok.”

M’gann pulled Bart into a one armed hug. “Yes I’d tell you. The team is not going to do a deep cover mission ever again.”

“That’s just what you’d say if he was on a deep cover mission.” Bart grumpled. 

“Bart,” M’gann floated, maneuvering herself so that she could look straight into his eyes, “I know what it is like to lose a best friend to a deep cover mission. And I am never going to put someone else through that. I promise. No more secrets.”

“So now what?” Bart asked miserably.

“Between that new Gotham vigilante and this new influx of Apokolyptic tech the team is spread thin, but” M’gann gave him a slow grin. “I am a senior member of the team and I do have access to all of the surveillance data that the watchtower has.”

Bart returned her grin ten fold. “And Blue’s armor ain’t exactly subtle . If he’s somewhere on the planet we’ll find him.” 

When Bart’s next Saturday meeting rolled around he had no current sightings of Blue Beetle to tell Tye about. It appeared as though Blue Beetle had just dropped off the face of the Earth. 

He arrived at their usual picnic table just a couple of moments late. Tye was already waiting for him frowning, and wasting no time with pleasantries. “His parents are anxious, like they get when he goes on longer missions.”

Bart had heard this before, and he had a point, saving the world was the only thing that would keep Jaime willingly away for so long. However “The team is not anxious at all. Not like when others have gone undercover. Besides I’ve been pestering Miss M and she does not seem to think anything is up.”

“Would she even tell you?” Tye countered.

“Oh yeah,”Bart answered quickly.

Tye fell silent. Variations of this argument had been played out before. And before either of them could think of a new avenue of inquiry to pursue a very familiar red-head appeared. And even though, the last time that Tye had seen her, her skin was green, Bart’s enthusiastic wave confirmed that it was indeed Miss Martian.

“Why’d you bring her?” Tye grumbled.

“He didn’t, I followed. Jaime is, well was, part of the team. So that means he’s family.” At Tye’s unimpressed gaze, M’gann continued gesturing towards a sheepish Asami watching from the other side of the park, “Besides it’s not like I’m the only one providing back up.”

Once Asami made her way over to the table, Tye looked over the group, “So now what?”

M’gann was the first to speak up, “Well we have already searched his room at the watchtower.”

“Wait wait.” Tye cut her off, “you went through his stuff?”

Both her and Bart had the decency to look sheepish before Tye sighed, “what did you find?”

“Nada,” Bart began, “but I, we, figured that there might be better clues at his house. I mean, his parents aren’t exactly freaking out. And he didn’t seem too keen on the League knowing what he was doing.”

Tye and Asami exchanged a look. Tye shrugged, Asami gave a thumbs up, and Tye put his head in his hands.

“Great,” he started, “Looks like I am going to break into my best friend’s house.”

When they arrived at the Reyes family home, all was quiet. Bianca was on shift at the hospital, Alberto was at the garage, and little Milagro was spending the day at summer camp. Fortunately the group did not need to be let in the front door. M’gann floated up to Jaime’s second story room. She density shifted through the wall, and opened the window from the inside. Bart then ran up the side of the house and into the room. He was followed shortly by Asami, who was holding Tye and had used her Chi manipulation to easily jump in.  

The biggest new addition to the room that Tye saw was a large W.W.T.K.D. bulletin board. Underneath were tacked notes and news clippings, relating to the previous two Blue Beetles and the Bialyan temple where the Scarab was found. In addition to the clipping and printouts, there were also notes written in Jaime’s hand writing. They said things such as ‘Think Sideways’, ‘Identify Obstacle’, ‘Don’t fight his fight’, ‘What does my enemy need, what don’t they want to happen in the next five minutes’, and ‘Just because someone is the problem doesn’t mean they are the solution’.

Bart and M’gann were more interested in the notes that Jaime had at his desk. There were pages and pages of them. Some were detailed diagrams of the scarab, with notes written in a mixture of ancient Bialyan and blocky letters that Bart identified as belonging to the Reach alphabet. Although even with his photographic memory, he could not recall an instance where he had seen them combined in that way. 

“I mean I’ve seen some of these letters combined. But I mean this one sounds like ‘S’ then care then I guess something like a Baho,” Bart whispered to M’gann pointing to some of the script, “But I have never heard Reach, Reachese, whatever, that sounded like that.” 

In addition to the scarab diagrams, the second most common form of notes were massive charts. M’gann was able to identify these as an intergalactic map with what appeared to be a course plotted. However she was not able to recognize where in the universe the maps were for.

It was Asami who found the holograms. She was standing to the side out of the way when she noticed two disks, each about the size of a CD and the thickness of a book, on top of Jaime’s dresser. It wasn’t the disks themselves that initially attracted her attention, but rather how neat that area was. While the rest of Jaime’s room was somewhat of a disaster zone, that one small area was kept meticulously clean, no stray papers, no dust. On the side of each of the disks there was more of that Reach writing, and when Asami gently slid her thumb over it, the entire disk lit up. They each projected a hologram, much like the ones that Virgil had told her existed in the team’s grotto. However these holograms were not of people. They were of scarabs, one green, one black. However there was one difference, only the black scarab had holographic letters projected under it, ‘Lo siento’.

Before Asami could turn the holograms back off, Bart saw them. He went over and examined each one closely. His face flitted between worried, amused, upset, and confused, before settling on a sad smile. “Thats so him isn’t it.”

“Hai, according to Milagro-chan, his scarab, the scarabs are _ikiteiru to kizuiteiru_ , alive and aware.”

“I didn’t…”

“I’ve made a copy of this map Bart,” M’gann said, cutting him off “I am sure that the watchtower would be able to figure out exactly what it is a map of.”

Tye and Asami again exchanged a glance before they both simultaneously said “not without us.”

**

It was an ordinary day at the watchtower. The Flash had approved two of Bart’s guests for entrance onto the satellite. Martian Manhunter was coordinating various Earthside heroics. And Icon was with Guy Gardner attempting to defuse an intergalactic incident. The only thing that made this day strange was that Guy did not cause this intergalactic incident.

When passing the main conference room M’gann, Bart, Tye, and Asami were going to ignore the debate until Bart pointed out that one of the aliens talking had an accent very similar to the Reach Ambassador’s. So under Bart’s suggestion they instead sneak into the back of the room to watch the drama that was unfolding between Guy, Icon, the head Judge that tried the Justice League on Rimbor and a representative of the Reach, who was currently talking.

“As you can plainly see one of your heroes has invaded Reach space, and has caused untold destruction on one of our planets.”

“With all due respect, Negotiator” Guy drawled, rolling his eyes, “How are you so sure it’s one of our heroes?”

Icon stepped forward and addressed the Judge, “We have already forwarded the full list of Justice League members and other associated heroes.”

“Yes, Rimbor has received your documentation. However we do note that the hero, this Blue Beetle used to be a member of your groups associated with the Justice League.”

“So?” Guy questioned with a malicious glint in his eye, “he’s not any more. Must have gone rogue, like that Reach Ambassador a couple of years back. Funny that.”

The Negotiator snarled, “By the treaty, Earthlings interfering in Reach Space is strictly forbidden. Furthermore this Blue Beetle…”

“Technically no longer has any ties with Earth” Icon cut in, “And the scarab bonded to him is of the Reach, which means that any retaliation against Earth would be against the treaties that you hold so dear.”

“If we discover any ties back to your planet, any support given…” The Negotiator threatened before being cut off by a new transmission.

And a third screen appeared in the conference room. It showed the image of an alien that looked like an amoeba the size of a human child. It had a single glowing yellow ‘eye’ and several folds in its body that seemed to resemble hair and arms. It spoke, apparently resonating from within for it appeared to lack a proper mouth.

“Yes, yes, hello. We are the Gibbles. We have found the power within and we are now declaring independence from the Reach.”

“You cannot do that,” the Negotiator sputtered, before turning towards the Judge, “as a representative of Rimbor you must…”

The Gibble Leader again cut the Negotiator off, “Any planet or group that supports our independence will have the first cut at trade negotiations with our planet. And as we are sure that you know the Gibbles are a very energy rich people.”

“This is unheard of!” The Negotiator raged, however the Judge was only paying attention to first cut at trade negotiations. Any fool knew that in just a day on that planet, a single ship could harvest enough energy to power an armatta for a year. Having the best deal in that kind of trade agreement would allow for a monumental profit.

“I wish to extend to the Gibble people the acceptance of Rimbor. We will be sending representatives and protectors to your planet post-haste.”

“You cannot!”

“Actually,” Guy said smiling sweetly at the Negotiator, “he can. As per the agreement, you no longer have a foothold in the world and the citizens of it have denied your rule. I don’t believe the Reach Empire is looking for war any more than Oa is.”

And with that the image of the Negotiator abruptly disappeared from the screen. Prompting Guy to address the Judge.

“Are you in need of a team to send? You do know Earth is always willing to do this protection detail free of charge.”

“After the issues with the Earth’s Justice League in the past, it is unlikely that this would be considered a good source of protection.”

M’gann took that as her cue and stepped out of the shadows, “Not everyone here is in the Justice League. I can have a team ready to go in a couple of hours tops.”

With that the Judge weighed his options. But free undisputed work with the added profit of the Gibble homeworld made that decision very easy. “Agreed, and while there you and your team will be official representatives of Rimbor. Any moves made or treaties signed will reflect on us and not Earth understood?”

Guy smiled and put his hand on M’gann’s shoulder, “Perfectly.”

“Our fastest ship will meet with you in three Earth hours at your moon. Be there.”


	4. Starting The Journey

**T+1 month**

M’gann, Bart, Tye and Asami had arrived early to the designated meeting place. Tye and Asami had zeta-ed back to El Paso to make a pitstop at Tye’s house, grabbing essentials which had been packed for the cross-country trip delayed by Jaime’s disappearance. They were then picked up by Bart and M’gann who, since they already had their essentials at the watchtower, were able to get the Bioship. It might not have been suited for interstellar travel, but it was a perfect ride for them to get to the meeting spot. However since the team and the Justice League were stretched so thin, that M’gann did not have a pilot to fly the bioship back. Instead she was trusting Guy to pick it up later.

Asami was the first to spot their ride from Rimbor. It was a sleek craft, approximately twice the size of the bioship. It’s sloping edges and fine detailing were reminiscent of an expensive sport’s car. And no one could deny that the craft screamed speed.

The docking was easy enough, and M’gann was able to set up communication between the team and their interstellar pilot, a brown-haired human looking Rimbor native.

The first thing that did was to smile and introduce himself while joking, “Welcome aboard the _Dag Gadol,_ my name is Jo Nah and I’ll be your driver this evening.”

With that out of the way his eyes narrowed and he appraised each and every one of them. “I hear you all are working _pro bono_ for Rimbor. So I’m supposed to be real nice to you… But I gotta ask what’s the catch?”

Bart was the first to recover from the change in tone. “Catch, what catch? Why’d there have to be a catch?”

Jo Nah was unimpressed, giving Bart a wry smile, “I’ve been around the block on Rimbor, no one does anything without an ulterior motive. So what’s yours?”

M’gann laid a hand on Bart and Tye’s shoulders, stopping them from replying angrily to him. She then took a breath and spoke calmly, “We think our friend is the one who is out there attempting to solo the Reach empire. And we want to help him.”

Jo Nah raised his eyebrows at her, “So you want me to fly you, so that you can take on one of the most powerful empires in the galaxy. An empire known for enslaving people, but doing so in a barely legal way. So that even the Guardians of Oa can’t touch them.”

“Yes,” was M’gann’s one word response. She stood tall, looking Jo Nah in the eye, daring him to continue the challenge, but he never did.

Instead his incredulous look broke into a wide smile, “Now that, sounds like an ulterior motive that I can get behind.”

**T+1 month, 1 week**

Tye really should have realized that the majority of Rimbor’s fastest ship would be engins and storage of food and water. And after an initial tour he had decided to confide himself mostly to the living areas, as he was not keen on accidently touching the wrong lever and breaking their ship.

Those areas were two levels, the top being the cockpit, behind which was a moderately sized living room and  kitchen combo thing. He would say it was large, but the amount of time he spent in there meant that it was starting to feel very small. There were also short walkways off to the left and right of the connection between cockpit and living room which were where the escape pods were located. 

The lower level was comprised of six cot like beds stacked two high along the wall. The rest of the lower compartment contained two tiny washrooms, shower, toilet, sink, all barely separated, and an exercise area. The exercise area was not huge, and only had a couple of pieces in it. A treadmill, a small bike machine, and a weird contraption with a moving seat that you sat and used your whole body to pull a small handle connected to resistance.

Tye was currently lounging on one of the couches, Asami was beside him. The team, plus Jo Nah were exchanging stories. It had been M’gann’s idea, something about team cohesion. And she had thus gone first speaking about her time on Mars and why she chose to run to Earth. Which of course prompted Asami’s story of leaving Japan and Tye’s of running from Maurice.

Jo Nah was currently speaking, having turned his pilot chair to face the living area.

“I mean Rimbor’s not bad. Just not good. It’s a little ...”

“Profit driven?” M’gann asked when Jo Nah trailed off.

“Yeah that. Where I used to live there seemed to only be two options, get enough money to live by bending the law and manipulating people, or do so by breaking the law and hurting people.”

“So what did you do?” Bart asked. And Tye was pleasantly surprised that there was less tapping of hands and feet than when he was forced to wait to see Black Canary at Star Labs.

Jo Nah laughed, “I took the third option, run the hell away. How about you, ‘Kid Flash’? It seems everyone else here is a runaway...”

Bart looked away and spoke slowly. “I guess you could say I ran from the future. Came back to make sure that the Reach could not do what they did.”

Bart’s face shifted back to a smile, “But it’s a pretty boring story now.”

“It’s not” Tye argued, “It’s why you came back to save Jaime.”

Bart delayed his response long enough for Jo Nah to ask, “Jaime, is he the one attacking the Reach right now right?”

Tye nodded and pulled out his phone, opening a candid shot of his friend and tossing it to Jo Nah. “Yeah, that’s him. ”

“Is he running away from something too?”

“No he’s just running towards danger.”

**T+1 month, 2 weeks**

“A-rigatou goza-imasu.”

Tye rolled his eyes as Bart gave Asami a small bow and ran down to the exercise room. Language lessons, once M’gann had stopped offering to provide mental translation, were definitely a way to pass the time.

Asami sat down next to him once Bart had left, “What?”

“His accent is horrendous.” 

Asami shrugged and replied diplomatically, “He is...understandable. Your accent is better.”

Tye stretched backwards, and grinned. However Asami grinned slyly and continued talking.

“But he remembers words better then you.”

Tye looked at her, “When did I mess up, I thought I was doing good.”

“Yesterday,” Asami said with a slight grin, “ _miru_ and _kiru._ ”

“Huh really?”

“Unless you meant to say ‘it is good to wear you’.”

Tye felt the blood run to his face, and he put his head in his hands out of embarrassment. 

Asami meanwhile just leaned against him and wound her hand in his hair. “I thought it was cute.” 

**T+1 month, 3 weeks**

Tye was ever so thankful that M’gann could cook, and more importantly could cook a huge variety of food. It was something to break up the tedium. As space travel was like driving at 100+ MPH on a desert road. Sure they were going fast, but there was nothing around to compare to, Just changing pinpricks of light. In fact Tye had to admit that as cool as space travel was in theory in actuality it was far worse than driving through the desert. At least in the desert he had the chance to see some animals, or plants or even sand blowing over rocks. And those drives never lasted this long.

Asami at least had found something to do. She was currently sitting next to Jo Nah in the co pilot chair. 

They didn’t talk all that much, except when Jo Nah answered Asami’s questions on what buttons did or a reading meant.

Tye couldn’t help but smile when he watched her. Because she was good at it. And he loved the way her face lit up when she figured out a new thing.

**T+2 months**

There was only one solid reason that Tye had to believe that Jaime had been on the planet that they were about to land on, and that was Reach testimony. And the Reach, well, they were not exactly known for being honest. Still if anyone was going to decide that saving alien races they never met from a threat that they themselves had almost been killed by, it would be Jaime.

It was only after the ship had landed on the Gibble home world, and their Gibble guide had greeted them, that Tye gave voice to his fears. While M’gann used her mental powers to establish translations, Tye worked over what exactly he wanted to say. As the group began to walk towards the location that was given as the head of the new Gibble government, Tye jogged a few steps ahead so that he could turn around face Asami. Walking backwards, he confided in her,

“I really hope that this whole trip hasn’t been a wild goose chase.”

Asami looked past him for a moment or two, before she smiled and simply said, “It hasn’t.”

“But how can you be so sure?”

Asami didn’t respond with words, but rather pointed. Tye blinked twice before turning around to see what she was pointing at.

Three giant statues. The two smaller ones both depicted what Tye guessed were what an amoeba in scarab armor would look like. But the third. The third was standing tall with a very familiar dorky smile plastered on his face.  

And with that Tye could not help to laugh. “Oh man, do you think that he knows there’s a statue of him?”

Tye’s question, though purely rhetorical at this point, attracted the attention of their Gibble guide. “Unfortunately, the Great One does not.”

The guide ignored the team’s sputtering at what that sentence implied, and continued on.

“Come and we will feast and tell you the story of the Great One. It started just a few glorbons ago”

**6 Glorbons prior**

When Jaime finally made planetfall after several jumps through the bleed, and too many days spent in the vastness of space waiting for the correct calibration for the next jump, he had to resist the very real urge to kneel and kiss the ground. Instead he just laughed, standing for the first time in far too long, before talking out loud to his one constant companion.

“Ok, first goal, get a nice warm meal. Second goal, kick the Reach off of this planet.”

**{Has the armor been malfunctioning? It should provide you with more than enough energy…}**

Jaime sighed, but kept the grin on his face, “It’s not about the energy _hermano_ , it’s about talking with family and friends, a dish prepared with love. Even a meal alone brings back those memories.”

 **{Is my company insufficient?}** The Scarab’s worry was almost palpable, **{the energy I provide is because I… care.}**

“That’s not it, you’re fantastic. But no matter how close two people…er…beings are,” Jaime struggled to explain, “they cannot satisfy each other’s every need.”

 **{Perhaps,}** but the Scarab did not sound convinced.

“Don’t tell me you’re not excited to get more scarabs to talk to”

**{Yes}**

“You see.” Jaime grinned before changing the subject. “is this air breathable?”

**{It is. What is your plan Jaime Reyes?}**

“Well” Jaime started while retracting the armor and just stretching his limbs, enjoying the feeling of wind again. “according to the info that we got off of Black Beetle, this planet hasn’t been exposed to the mind altering chemicals for very long. So we still have a very good chance of finding a lot of resistance.”

**{It’s more than that. Because of the unique physiology of this species, the chemicals are mostly inefficient. The total populace of this planet can still make Reach free decisions.}**

“See now, that is excellent.”

**{I fail to see how, all Reach documentation confirms that this planet does not fight back.}**

“And when we were on mode,” Jaime countered patiently, “all Reach documentation would confirm that we did not fight back either. There are more ways to resist than violence, _esé_.”

 **{Agreed.}** and that was the end of that. **{there appear to be at least seven very large grouping of life. Most likely cultural or leadership centers. In addition there are thirty-five mid size groupings, and countless small ones.}**

“Ok, what’s the nearest of these cultural centers?”

**{6.75924 kilometers East North-East.}**

“There’s an East here?” Jaime questioned while setting off in the direction the Scarab’s light blue hologram pointed him.

**{East is the direction that the planet rotates.}**

“Oh, ok.”

They walked in silence for a while. Jaime occasionally jumping or skipping just because he could. And the Scarab was having fun pointing out every life form that it came across.

**{Query…}**

“Yeah?”

The Scarab hesitated before questioning him, **{Whatever center you enlist first will likely become the world leader after we leave. Are you really OK with handing that power over to whoever we happened to land nearest to?}**

“Good thought, and I admit It has crossed my mind. I’m not super keen on tests of worthiness, but I figure whichever center takes me, as an outsider, in, will probably be willing to do the same for other outsiders.”

_~ “It is said that the Great One traveled a great distance and asked for shelter often before approaching our humble home” ~_

Jaime approached the Gibble city with his head held high. Looking straight ahead he spoke to his Scarab, “So third time’s the charm?”

 **{If you say so,}** was the only response from the Scarab who was clearly unimpressed with the lack of open doors that had been extended to them.

It was the Scarab who noticed the approaching Gibble first, prompting Jaime to turn and look. The Amoeba like alien was moving swiftly. And Jaime was glad, not for the first time, that the Scarab translated pretty much any alien language that he encountered. Jaime did not have a chance to use it however. As the approaching Gibble spoke first.

“Greetings traveler, you should return to your ship, this planet is not safe”

Jaime shrugged, this was already a better reaction that the last two places that he visited. “Greetings to you as well, I swear I’ll be on my way shortly. But, I’ve just been traveling for so long…”

“This planet is part of the Reach Empire, if you stay here there will be danger.”

“For you or for me?”

“For you traveler, but if you will not leave,” the Gibble gave a gesture that the scarab interpreted as a human sigh, “come with me. We can offer a meal and our protection, as meager as it is.”

_~ “That was you wasn’t it?” Tye cut into the story._

“ _Yes it was I,” their guide replied, slightly smug, “And the meal started out well. The Great One talked and laughed with our people. He was thankful for what food we offered, but also made sure every Gibble in attendance had enough. For the first time in a long time, we had a night where we forgot our fear. Everything was going so well. That is, until our Reach Infiltrator arrived.” ~_

Jaime was enjoying himself. He hadn’t forgotten that he was, at the moment, waging a one man war against an intergalactic empire. But he needed this, they needed this. Just another reminder of what they were fighting for.

And for a while the meal was wonderful. The Leader of the city invited Jaime to the head table. And throughout the course of the meal they were approached by Gibbles from all over the city. Most were just curious, and Jaime was more than happy to share with them stories of his home.

Then **{Jaime Reyes, we should move, for an enemy approaches. And at this location the risk of unacceptable losses is at 73.247%}**

Jaime quickly stood, saving the compliment on the Scarab’s care for innocents, until after this Reach scarab warrior was taken care of. However when he attempted to move towards the threat, Jaime realized that he had underestimated the Gibble intelligence network.

Apparently they already knew of the warriors approach, and had positioned themselves in front of him. Several grabbed his arms and gently tugged, beckoning him that he needed to get down and hide.

And seeing that now the warrior was practically on top of them, Jaime could no longer move the location of the fight. His best bet was to at least let them try it their way. So reluctantly Jaime crouched and monitored the situation through the Scarab, while the Gibbles around him offered comfort and reminders to be silent.

Jaime watched through the protective mass of Gibbles as the scarab warrior, the Gibble infiltrator according to his scarab’s scans, entered. Even though the Gibbles didn’t really have anything close to a human mouth or face, Jaime could swear that he saw it smirk.

“There is a traveler here, one who had not yet received the proper Reach welcome. Hand him over.”

“There is no traveler here,” the Gibble leader began haltingly.

“You lie,” the warrior laughed, forming a plasma cannon “Hand him over.”

“No.”

The sound of the cannon charging was all Jaime needed. He ignored the other Gibbles trying to keep him hidden, as he stood up, he issued his own command, “Enough.”

The warrior laughed at his audacity. But Jaime ignored that. “I am right here, let everyone else leave.”

“You are in absolutely no position to make demands.”

Jaime raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you want to know where I came from, and how I got past Reach defenses?”

“Fine, you have until I count to twenty to get my interest.”

And Jaime waited for the first fifteen counts. Motioning for the Gibbles to leave. They dispersed, however none of them left entirely. And that dispersal  shrunk the risk of unacceptable losses down dramatically.

So once the warrior reached sixteen, Jaime spoke.

“The Reach can not do anything to stop me,” He began, his armor swelling up and encasing him, “Because. We. Are. The. Blue. Beetle.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arigatou gozaimasu - thank you  
> Miru - to see  
> Kiru -to wear


	5. Building the Army

**6 Glorbons prior**

As soon as Jaime armored up the world around him sprang into action. The Gibbles retreated even more, but he did not take his eyes off of the infiltrator to see if they had completely fled or not. He had hoped to introduce the idea of a rogue infiltrator, one who was on their side, gently. Still if no one was hurt in this battle perhaps…

**{Jaime Reyes, focus on the task at hand}**

Right. The infiltrator stood before him, plasma cannon raised. Jaime countered by forming his shield on his left arm, and transforming his right into a sword. He had to bring the fight into close quarters to allow his Scarab a chance to do its work.

Jaime kept his eyes focused on the infiltrator as he charged. He kept his profile low, using his jetpack to get some extra speed. And, in a trick learned from Bart, he kept weaving as he approached. Hoping to drag out the amount of time that it took to get a lock onto his position.

It wasn’t until the Gibble infiltrator fired that Jaime realized his mistake. He had spent just a second too long directly between the infiltrator and a group of Gibble civilians, who had not yet vacated. He didn’t have much of a choice. Jaime raised his shield in front of him planting his feet firmly, preparing to meet the oncoming blast.

**{Recommended tactic: Dodge}**

Jaime shook his head slightly and spoke to the Scarab. “I can’t, there are…”

The rest of his reply was cut off, by his body’s sudden movement. Under the Scarab’s control, his body jerked to the side. His arm extended, as equations, trajectories, and predictions ran before his eyes, too fast for him to comprehend any of them.

Then the pain hit his arm, as the plasma blast burned a furrow into his shield. The blast continued on, past him. It tore through the wall mere inches from the congregated Gibbles.

Control was returned so fast it felt like whiplash. And for that moment he felt utter disgust. Not his though. The disgust disappeared as the Scarab retreated as far as it possibly could while still maintaining the armor.

Jaime couldn’t stop and think, not yet. He pulled his arm back towards himself, reconfiguring it. The change from shield to arm helped mute the pain and repair the damage. Yeah, he could not afford to take a direct hit, those blasts were crazy powerful.

Jaime really wasn’t used to not being able to take a hit. Ok, before he became the Blue Beetle he was, but now… His whole fighting style was centered on the fact that he could continue to absorb damage. But for this fight. He had… He had to fight like Kid Flash.

He remembered that Bart confided in him once, after Black Canary held a class on avoiding attacks. She insisted that you predict your enemy’s movement, so as to get under their defenses. But the Scarab was the one who could predict movement with accuracy, whenever Jaime tried to do it on his own, he always wound up flat on his back. It was then, in an attempt to make Jaime feel better that Bart admitted that he didn’t focus on dodging as much as he focused on treating the entire area of an attack as a wall or other barrier. It wasn’t so much a focus of getting out of the way, but of never being in the way to begin with. And sure, it meant that he passed up openings, but not everyone has crazy amounts of martial arts experience.

Jaime ran forward, twisting out of the cone he had mentally assigned as potential blast areas. It’s wasn’t easy, it wasn’t even pretty, but right now it was his best chance.

As he got closer, it became harder for Jaime to dodge the blasts. After he felt the heat of a particularly close one he called, “Scarab, _Hermano_? I need you.”

No response. But Jaime was finally in range. Close enough to hit the other infiltrator. And extending claws from his fingertips he did just that. Poking, trying to slip into a weak point. Not to hit through the armor, but rather to get into the armor itself.

He positioned himself behind the Gibble infiltrator, using one hand to interface with the armor, and the other hand to control their plasma cannon so that it pointed away from the civilians. But that was all that he could do on his own.

“Come on, we have a job to do, ” Jaime started before pulling out his trump card, “Khaji Da!”

Khaji Da, the Scarab’s name. Chosen by the Scarab once they broke free of Reach control. It was big and powerful, not power granting like the word Shazam, but rather big and powerful from importance. Like when his mother called him by his full name. Right after the Scarab chose it, Jaime had tried to switch over, and always call the Scarab, Khaji. However it missed the nicknames, so Jaime had reverted. Therefore it’s true name didn’t get called much, just in times when Jaime could not afford to be ignored. Whether those were times when he was teaching and listening to it or just needed a response desperately.

The Scarab, his Scarab, heard him. And instantly put into motion a plan they had been theorizing about since the final battle with the Reach. However before this moment, they never had an opportunity to test it. It was all pen and paper.

The first thing that happened was that the Gibble infiltrator stopped trying to force the plasma cannon down. It was followed shortly by the cannon folding back in on itself.

Jaime held his breath. This had to work. Come on. He felt the infiltrator stiffen, and two heartbeats later, the armor pulled back into it’s scarab, revealing an amoeba. It lacked the bright glow that Jaime had observed in the other ones. And had a scarab clearly visible and embedded into the membrane on its back. Or at least Jaime guessed it was its back.

Jaime let go and took a step back, releasing his own armor as well. The Gibbles that had witnessed the fight had come out of their shelter, and were beginning to crowd around. They didn’t seem to move with any hostility so Jaime kept his eyes on the former infiltrator.

“I’m free” It spoke its voice raw.

“I’m…” it hesitated, pulling into itself again. “We’re free.”

Jaime let out the breath he had been holding, a smile beginning to play on his lips.

“We’re… but what?… Are you?… But why, surely… ” Jaime listened to a very familiar one sided conversation. So this is what it sounded like when he talked to the Scarab. Heh, his friends really did put up with a lot.

Then his Scarab implanted two words in his mind, a name. The touch was light, no more noticeable than a ladybug briefly landing on his finger, before the Scarab retreated again.

“Khaji Ro,” Jaime began, causing the freed Gibble to look at him. “We come bearing a gift, a teaching, and a question. You have already received our gift of freedom, free will. And our teaching is simple. Preservation of choice is important. That means we make sure that those around us have the ability to choose. Whether they be allies or enemies or ones we have never met, we should preserve their life, their free will. Their choices might not be free from consequences, but it is not our place to decide that. Our place is to protect.”

The Gibble nodded and Jaime knelt down to be level with the it. He had rehearsed this speech plenty but he still hated the next part. The newly freed scarab warriors were too vulnerable. But if today had shown him anything, it was that he really needed allies. He could not fight this war alone.

“We know that you didn’t choose this power, but you can choose what to do with it. Will you choose to help me fight the Reach, and free your fellows?”

The Gibble, Khaji Ro looked down, and listened to a voice only it could hear.

“Yes,” it finally answered, “yes we accept. Brother what must we do?”

“We must fight,” Jaime admitted before glancing around and then looking at the Gibble Leader. “We all must fight. Our goal is not the defeat of the Reach, though that may be incidental. Our goal is the freedom and safety of this planet, and all the other ones that the Reach have taken.”

Jaime paused, he had gone over and practiced this speech a million times, especially when he was bored out of his mind in the vastness of space. Of course each of those times he had the Scarab acting as a mini teleprompt, and he wasn’t actually giving his speech to anyone else. But now he was surrounded by Gibbles who were hanging onto his every word, and his Scarab had not spoken since…

Since the Scarab had taken total control. He knew if he had taken that blast, he and the Gibbles behind him would be nothing more than holes in the wall. But still. Now that the adrenalin from battle was being to wear off. Now that he had time to think, he could feel that old tendril of fear wind it’s way up from the pit of his stomach. He took a deep breath, held it and shakely let it out.

“Brother?”

Jaime focused his attention back on the Gibble in front of him. He had to be strong for them. Jaime took another deep breath and finally answered.

“There is a second Reach puppet, here. Their enforcer. I. The first move I need to make is to free them.”

“Brother, let me help.”

“No” Jaime responded, just a smidge too fast. “No, you need time to learn to work together…”

“Forgive me Blue Beetle,” The Gibble leader broke in, “but how exactly do you think that a planet as small as this one can take on an empire as vast as the Reach.”

“It’s fine, I mean this is your place and we kinda, crashed it.” Jaime answered with a small smile. “You, you all have a greater power within you than you realize. You have the strength to win…”

Jaime paused, thinking back to the long nights he had spent with Guy Gardner going over intergalactic treaties. “From some millennia old peace accords, the Reach are untouchable as long as a planet welcomes them. However if a planet were to retract that welcome, publicly, on the intergalactic stage then those same accords would cause Oa to declare war on the Reach. That war is in no one’s best interest, but the Reach would lose the most and they know it.”

“But,” Khaji Ro interjected, “They have a failsafe, a plan for destroying the planet if things go wrong…”

“Yes they do, but then you know all about that plan, every detail.”

“Yes we do” Khaji Ro admitted, before realizing what exactly that meant, “Yes we do! And we know how to stop it.”

“And that is exactly what we will do once we come back with the enforcer.”

“And then what?” The Gibble leader pressed.

Jaime looked at the leader before bowing his head. “And then sir, we will aid and advise you in whatever you decide to do. If you chose to do nothing we will leave. The Reach won’t waste resources punishing you when they have us to worry about. But I hope. I hope you choose to fight. There is a saying, from my home. That it is better to die on your feet than live on your knees, and… And you don’t exactly have knees so its kinda… anyway.”

The leader looked at his people than back to Jaime. “We will fight.”

Jaime smiled and stood back up. With a salute he called forth the armor and flew.

Once he was out of sight of the city Jaime landed again and the armor retracted. He finally let the shaking overtake him as he doubled over and heaved.

He then sat, pressing his forehead to his knees. Until he felt the Scarab’s touch, light as a feather.

**{Jaime…}**

“Not your fault _hermano_ , It’s theirs” Jaime spat the word. “I just need a moment. I can’t… I’ve, we’ve gotta lead them you know. How am I supposed to convince them that we can do this if I can’t even…”

Jaime fell silent, and the Scarab hummed. Not fully retreating, but not talking either. They remained like that for several minutes before Jaime declared.

“Fly me to the enforcer.”

The Scarab returned the armor, and plotted a flight course for Jaime to follow. Jaime however did not move.

“No, I want you to do the flying. I’ve got to get over this. I can’t let anyone get hurt because of my fears. Not again.”

When the Scarab still made no play for control, Jaime added, “Please do it.”

And with that the Scarab stood them up.  It then launched them, using it’s wings to gain altitude and distance. Jaime was silent during this. However a few minutes later, just as the Scarab was retracting the wings to make room for the jetpack. Jaime called for control back.

The effect was instantaneous. The Scarab relinquished control, and they dropped for a couple of seconds before Jaime caught them using their jetpack.

“ _Gracias_.”

**{Are you…}**

“Better than I was. Still a little freaked, but I think I can beat it. You know, eventually.”

**T+2 months**

“It took the Great One less than a Glorbon to return. And during that time, the Gibble people had joined together. We, with the help of Khaji Ro built an intergalactic communications satellite.” the team’s guide intoned. “We were almost finished with launch preparation when the Great One came back, accompanied by the freed enforcer known as Djo Kanjar.”

“The Great One lead the destruction of the Magnetic Field Disrupters, following the intell given by  Khaji Ro. Djo Kanjar provided the force to easily destroy each device.”

M’gann cocked an eyebrow, “So the untold destruction that Jaime caused was to doomsday weapons, somehow that is not very surprising.”  

“Once they were destroyed, we launched the satellite, The Great One went up with it. To guard it from incoming Reach drones, while Khaji Ro and Djo Kanjar remained on the planet to guard the population.”

Their Gibble guide went silent for a second. “On the ground none of the Reach soldiers could break past Khaji Ro and Djo Kanjar, there were no casualties here. In space, the battle was very one sided. It was the Great One against twenty fully armed Reach drone ships.”

“And you got the signal out,” Tye broke in sadly, “but that is the reason Jaime doesn’t know about his statue.”

“No,” the Gibble stated confused, “The Great One does not know about his statue because he, and our freed scarab warriors, left before it was completed. In fact very recently we have received word from our neighbors the Ctarl. The Great One, and his newly formed army of two, have freed their scarab warriors, and they were declaring their independence from the Reach.”

“So wait,” Bart jumped in, “What about that one sided fight, how did Blue defeat them?”

“Easily,” The Gibble replied, “It was one sided, there were _only_ twenty drones.”


	6. Bending the Rules

“We can’t just leave” Bart pushed.

The team had finished negotiating trade and protection with both the Gibble and Ctarl on behalf of Rimbor. They were now piled in the ship as Jo Nah fiddled with the controls.

“Bart, I’m sorry, but we have no other choice” M’gann said. She did not meet Bart’s eyes.

“No,” Bart countered, “we do. We know from the Ctarl’s where he is going. We can help.”

Tye and Asami looked at each other and nodded, but before they could speak up defending Bart’s proposition M’gann spoke.

“I know, and believe me I want nothing more than to fly out and fight by his side. But Bart, if we do that all of his work will be in vain. Don’t you see the risks he took in going it alone, they were all about keeping Earth out of the crossfire. And we’re Earthlings, Bart, all of us. Whether by time spent or by birth.”

M’gann looked down at her hands. The rest of the team fell silent. Asami squeezed Tye’s shoulder while he clenched his fists. Bart lost his grin.

“All of that appears very true, if _you_ follow,” Jo Nah broke into the discussion with a grin, “But me, I’m from Rimbor.”

He smiled and flicked a switch on the console. The navigation display went dark.

“And now I’m lost, better put in a distress call, so that Rimbor knows exactly what is happening.”

Bart cheered as Jo Nah turned his ship directly into Reach space.  

The trip didn’t last too long, at least compared to the first one. And they had just enough time to hear back from Rimbor. Jo Nah was encouraged to land at the first serviceable planet and fix his craft before returning home. This didn’t give them a lot of options but for the team, the chance to see Jaime again was enough. They’d plan their next move from there after consulting with him.

It was not exactly an encouraging sight when the planet came into view. It was completely surrounded by Reach warships.

“So, at least we know he’s here,” Bart quipped, breaking the team out of the uneasy silence that had fallen.

“Do you think you can get us past them?” M’gann questioned.

Jo Nah stretched at the captain’s chair. “I can try, any objections?”

There was silence before Tye spoke, “Not an objection, but you do have weapons on this ship, right?”

“No, only shields, weapons are not conducive to peacekeeping.”

“But,” Bart broke in with a smirk, “The escape pods are moderately armed, with a little time, I could consolidate them into one pod that’s armed to the teeth.”

“Do it.” M’gann ordered. “We’ll wait until you’re done and then make our move.”

“ _Sumimasen,_ ” Asami dragged the team’s attention back to the Reach ships, “but we’ve got to move now.”

With that Bart raced over the escape pods, working at super speed on creating at least one fighter pod. M’gann on the other hand sat with her eyes closed. And then the closest Reach ship broke off from its intercept course and began to wander aimlessly.

This was repeated several times, allowing Jo Nah, to navigate closer to the planet. Asami was closely watching everything that he did. Tye clenched his fists, in a fight like this, there wasn’t a whole lot that he could do.

They were well within what would be considered the MEO Zone if this was Earth, when the ship rocked for the first time. M’gann collapsed forward with a gasp.

A couple of seconds later Bart rushed out. The fighter was done. And he just had to figure out how to launch the pods, and then he could be out there helping.

Jo Nah hit several buttons on the control panel before making his way over to the pods.

“It’s just a release button here…” He started, hitting a mauve button on the wall and climbing inside of the pod, “and here.”

Before Bart realized what was going on, Jo Nah had already launched himself in the fighter.

“M’gann! That’s our pilot we’ve got to stop him.”

But before M’gann could do anything, their ship was already veering away from the fighter. Asami had assumed control and was sitting in the pilot’s chair.

“Keep them off our tail, please.” she instructed.

“But we cannot let him take this risk alone.”

“He is doing what he is best at, we will be most useful on the ground,” Asami explained, not taking her eyes off of the displays in front of her.

Bart looked out at the battle waging behind them, “they’re capturing him, we have to go back and…”

“We must do what we must. If we all are captured here, nothing more can be done.”

With Jo Nah’s distraction, M’gann managed to keep the Reach disinterested in their ship as they entered the atmosphere. And they prepared to make an emergency landing.

**Elsewhere**

Wally West was enjoying a relatively relaxing day. He was able to just sit and think while peeling some alien plant roots that reminded him of a potato. It wasn’t the most interesting work, but one of the most vital parts of a rebellion was making sure that everyone was fed. And everyone did their part in a rebellion, even surrounded by aliens. Or Wally corrected, as the one lone alien surrounded by natives.

He was really glad that they accepted his help, and freely offered their help to him. As Wally was sure that he must have come across as really weird to them. And not just for the fact that the kept making Star Trek references to remind himself of home.

He wasn’t that great with communicating with the lizard like aliens. They were nearly seven feet tall with long powerful tails and webbed hands. They were equally at home in the water or on the marsh that dominated this planet.  They called themselves the Cobold’s or something like that.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know the language. He’d been here for almost 2 years, well, alien years so there would be some conversion to Earth years that he didn’t know. He didn’t really want to anyway.

No their name was “something like that” since it involved making some subtle inflection using their body language, which was near impossible for him to read. Mostly considering it wasn’t really body language at all, and they were just as oblivious to his grandiose hand gestures and subtle shrugs as he was to their pheromones. They were always producing vast and complex chemical cocktails that they then released into the air or water, to work with their language. The most advanced producers of these chemicals were some of the most respected Cobold’s as they literally added hormones into the eggs, aiding in the formation of each new brood.

Not that he was complaining about being left out of subtle conversations, and trapped on an alien planet, not really. It was better than the alternative. Which was being dead.

Wally could remember that day in the Arctic, running to save the Earth. The pain of the energy. And then no pain. No nothing. The world grew dim, but not because he was dying. It was because light could no longer affect him. Incoming rays would go straight through his retina, and the rest of him. He also felt himself becoming lighter, it wasn’t that he was being carried off bit by bit, but rather no gravity could affect him. And in the course of about 16 seconds he literally ceased to be a part of the known universe.

And then after 16 more seconds of being everywhere and nowhere, disconnected and reconnected he began to reappear. But this was an even bigger problem than disappearing. Space is vast, the amount of emptiness between particles or suns or uninhabited rocks boggled the mind. And places that can support life. Those were so much rarer.

But never let it be said that Wally West did not take fate into his own hands. As soon as he saw land and water below his feet, he forced his own reappearance. Mimicking the action of slowing down. Just barely managing to hit the bog like planet. Falling about a foot before sliding through the mud. He wound up knee deep in the stuff before pitching forward and getting a face full of the gunk.

Wally had never been happier for his goggles, as he picked himself back up. Also, considering that he hadn’t started choking, the air had enough oxygen, and was not going to immediately kill him. That was no guarantee that it wouldn’t slowly kill him but at least he had a little more time.   

As soon as the adrenalin had faded, Wally’s stomach made it’s complant known. He had about a day’s worth of stored food in his suit, but past that he would need to figure out what was edible on this planet. And that meant finding stuff that looked like it could be, and eating very slowly. Holding it in his hand, holding it in his mouth, and then eating a bite. If he made it though all three of those phases without getting sick, the food was probably safe. He was just about to eat some fuzzy blue fruit when the first Cobold he met yelled at him.

Wally had instantly dropped the food, and waited with his hands up as it approached him with some form of weapon in hand. Looking back Wally was unsure what made him choose to stay instead of running. But now he was glad that he did.

The Cobold had blindfolded Wally and led him in random directions before they wound up by a massive underground spring. There the blindfold was removed and he was offered food and water.

It took Wally several months and more “Tarzan and Jane” moments than he cared to count before he got solid communication established. It was then that he realized the reason for the strictly enforced rules about food and water.

If you ate anything other that what was grown around their massive underground spring, you became one of the lost. Totally subservient to any commands given.

Also once Wally was able to communicate, he started going out with several of the Cobold scouts, to find abandoned weapons. His super speed came in handy for quickly searching above water areas. And it was while on one of these scouting trips that Wally found himself being pulled into a hiding position, and watching a very familiar armor on an unfamiliar body shape fly past.

The Reach. Everything fell into place. And while Wally was not directly involved with a lot of the small details of the failed Earth invasion. Dick and Artemis had given him a brief overview of what was going on, with a more detailed analyses on things he was interested in. Mainly the chemistry of their mind control drugs. And that, that had to be what happened here on a planet wide scale. The Cobold rebellion was probably using one of the few uncontaminated water sources left on the planet.  

It wasn’t long after when he convinced them to let him work with one of their most respected chemical manipulators. Cript’chi was the protege of one of the greatest chemists in Cobold history, who Wally had learned, was the blue armored Reach scarab warrior that he had seen. After months of work Wally was able to isolate the drugs that the Reach used, and shortly there after Cript’chi devised a way to neutralize the drug.

From there, things seemed to pick up. Missions turned from simple survival to outright rebellion. Spreading the antidote across the planet. It was slow going, but Wally remembered the pure joy he felt the first time that he was running through town and asked one of the lost to move. And the lost answered “{No}”.

Of course if things can get better, they can also get worse. The Reach were using this planet as a factory for producing their mind control drugs and various other chemical and biological weapons. And when the lost started waking up, production must have slowed.

That was the only thing that could explain the recent increased activity of their own scarab warriors and according to the scouts, the arrival of multiple other scarab warriors from across the Reach empire.

There had even been reports of several of these warriors poking around with their water supply. Obviously they wanted to find the source of the change. But several of the Cobold rebellion had already checked the dispersal of drugs, and it did not appear that the Reach had figured out what exactly was happening. At least they had not reintroduced large amounts of their drug to counteract the cure.

Wally was snapped out of his thoughts by the arrival of one of the scouts that Wally had worked a lot with in the past.

“{Reach battle ongoing!}”

“{Between who?}” Wally was already changing into his Kid Flash uniform, which had held up surprisingly well.

“{Two of their own warriors}”

“{That’s weird right?}”

The hint of odor that Wally caught, a mix of between fresh cut grass and old dusty books, meant that the scout agreed with him. Probably. The mix between flowering grass and dusty books was annoyance, and it was sometimes hard to identify with the smell only being noticeable to him for just milliseconds.

“{Where are they?}”

As soon as the scout gave him directions Wally was off. And as soon as he spotted a hint of the Reach ship he stopped and pressed himself low to the ground while increasing the magnification on his goggles.

As the scout had said, there were two scarab warriors engaged in combat. Well they were grappling each other now. The one that he instantly recognized, the Cobold infiltrator, who was, before the Reach had gotten to them, one of the most respected chemical manipulations on the planet, had it’s hands clamped firmly around the other’s neck. And the other, an offworlder that looked familiar, had it’s fingers elongated and pierced into the Cobold’s armor.

A Reach ship was on the ground near the fight, and one of the scientists was at the edge of the ship, shouting what Wally assumed had to be commands in that clicking language that the Reach used.

Seconds after Wally arrived the two warriors disengaged. The Cobold stood tall while the other collapsed forward clutching at his throat. The armor retreated swiftly, and the analytical part of Wally’s mind noted that those red welts that were forming were probably from an allergic reaction caused by the Cobold.

The rest of his mind caught up a second later, because **he knew that kid.**

Wally surged forward. Focusing on the Reach scientist pulling Jaime into the ship. Their eyes met for a brief moment before the scientist called out a new command.

Wally was almost at the docking bay door, he was going to make it. That was until he was slammed to the ground by an attack from his left side.

The Cobold warrior had body slammed him, and held him to the ground as the Reach ship’s doors closed.

The ship took off as Wally spun out from underneath the warrior, hitting it hard in the side and sending it off balance.

“{Where are they taking him?}”

Facing down the warrior, Wally watched as it lifted it’s arm and pointed it towards Wally. Much like the Blue Beetle would do before summoning his plasma cannon.

But no cannon formed. And when the warrior directed a glare at it’s offending arm, Wally took the opportunity and launched into an attack.


	7. Escape

Jaime opened his eyes, and a very scary sense of deja vu washed over him. He came to while standing again, and the world was tinted red in color again. Sure waking up in a Reach containment pod rated above being dead, but just barely.

“So I guess…” He whispered before being overtaken by coughing. His throat felt like someone had gone at it with sandpaper.

**{The containment pod neutralizes all combat systems}**

Jaime had leant forward, his forehead pressing against the cool material of the pod. He gave a nod as the Scarab hesitantly continued.

**{Even outside of the pod we would have issues with the armor. That Cobold infiltrator, whatever they did causes active system to trigger an allergic response.}**

“Are we…” Jaime allowed just a bit of fear to enter his whisper, “going to get cut off?”

**{Unlikely. Passive systems such as basic communication sensing and monitoring do not appear to trigger it.}**

“Good.” Jaime sighed, standing straight again, “will we be able to use armor again?”

**{That is a high probability, the foreign chemical is being metastasized by your own systems.}**

“How long?”

**{Months optimistically.}**

Jaime closed his eyes, and pressed his lips into a line. This was very far from ideal. “And our allies?”

**{It is unlikely that they can be affected.} The Scarab hesitated, {Jaime Reyes, this poison was made for you specifically.}**

“Aces.” Jaime began sliding his fingers around the edge of the pod. He was hoping for a way to escape, but all he felt was a perfectly smooth container. Like a bug in a jar he thought bitterly.  “Did we at least free…”

**{Negative, We disengaged at Stage 2.3 with primary weapons taken offline. Secondary Weapons are still online and Reach connection was not broken.}**

Jaime closed his eyes and leant against the back of the pod. He took two deep breaths before raising both his feet and planting them against the opposite wall of the pod. He pushed, using his legs to strain against the pod, which didn’t budge.

After a minute of doing this Jaime relented, and put his feet back down. He leant forward again, resting his forehead while catching his breath again. Turning his head he glared down. “Fine, Open Sesame.”

Jaime’s internal chuckle broke off when the Scarab spoke. **{That may work…}**

“Wait really?”

 **{The majority of Reach do not have a scarab, they rely on verbal commands something like Pod::5-2::Open}** the Scarab tentatively explained, while giving Jaime a mental image of the corresponding Reach script **{It might just work. But I cannot take over even to speak, Jaime Reyes, that counts as active and would no doubt…}**

Jaime recognized that script. He had used it to make a majority of his notes for planning his attack. He’d done it for one simple reason, if the Justice League found out about his plan they’d stop him. Or worse, get involved, and drag Earth back into an intergalactic war. Not that he was stupid enough to write out their plans in the Reach language. No most of his plans were in Spanish with the Reach script phonetically overlaid.

Phonetically overlaid…

“ _< Pod::5-2::Open>_”

Jaime fell forward, landing on his knees with a thud as the pod’s front panel retreated away.

**{Oh}**

Jaime took a minute to catch his breath before he hauled himself back up.

“What now?”

**{The ideal tactic would be to flee}**

**

Bart waited. He hated waiting. But he didn’t have much choice. After they crash landed, they had had no real direction.

They had spent the first couple of days in a frenzy of active scouting, trying to find anything amiss. But all they found were these dead eyed lizard people. The way that they moved was far too similar to something that Bart remembered from Before. He had no doubt that this was a Reach planet. Except unlike the future he destroyed there did not seem to be large pockets of even mental resistance. Early on M’gann had tried communicating with them. And although she could establish mental translation, they could still only get minimal response. She had not kept the translation up, for fear that the Reach could use it to track them. Especially when there did not seem to be any benefit for keeping it up.

After no clues were found off the bat, the group settled into an uneasy tedium. Taking watch, scanning the horizon, just waiting for something to happen.

It was for this reason that when Bart first saw one of the natives approach him, he didn’t pay much attention. Until it hit him.

The others never even looked at him, much less approached.

Finally.

Bart held his hands forward in what he hoped was the universal sign for “stay here” before running back to the ship. He really needed M’gann for translation right about now.

“I found someone, or something, is something really the right term, that seems dehumanizing, not that their human, delizanizing? But…”

“Bart” of the team, M’gann was perhaps the most.

“We need to re-establish mental translations. One of ‘em approached me.”

“It’s up again, but Bart don’t get your hopes up.”

“Next time you wish me to follow, do not run so fast.”

“Dude I was not trying to get you to follow,” Bart countered, before realizing that it was the native, the Cobold, who had spoken.

The team formed a loose semi circle around the new arrival. Tye stood with his eyes closed and breathing steady. Asami was leaning forward, hands held loosely at her side.

The Cobold didn’t seem to notice the movement of the others, but was instead focusing on Bart. “There are others of your kind here, why didn’t you tell us?”

“This is like the first time I’ve ever seen you. Ok second time, the first was in the clearing less than what, a minute ago…”

“Bart,” M’gann cut him off, before turning to the Colbold, and asking. “What is going on here?”

It blinked a few times, and stared at Bart for a couple of seconds before stating, “I apologize, we work with another of your tribe, and I must have mistaken you for them.”

“Ahh let me guess,” Tye said with a touch of humor, “all hominids look the same to you.”

“It would seem so. But if you are of their tribe than you too must be against the Reach.”

“Totally.”

The Cobold glanced at the sky, “They have been more active as of late it is not safe here.”

The team exchanged a glance before Asami spoke up, “Let’s go.”

The followed the Cobold in relative silence until they reached an underground cavern. It was lit with a series of mirrors and clean burning chemicals. In the distance they could hear the sound of flowing water. Around them various Cobolds sharpened or fixed weapons, as others prepared food. A few were set up on long well lit tables overseeing bubbling chemical reactions, while the younger ones ran underfoot. Careful to stay clear of the table and the weapons.

“As you can see we have a rebellion against the Reach, and the one from your tribe should be returning shortly. They have been a great help. Identifying the mind control chemical that the Reach are using. Even now we have our people manufacturing the cure. And our most advanced scientists are working on making it even more efficient.”

“Wow,” Bart complimented, “you guys sure work quick.”

M’gann’s physic translation, allowed the team to interpret the smell of fresh squeezed grapes, as the Cobolt flushing from the praise.

The group talked quietly until a very familiar voice rang through the cave. 

“Lucy, I’m home!”

Bart stood perfectly still. His eyes went wide.

Kid Flash, the original one, stood at the entrance of the cave. His uniform was torn in some places, and one of his goggle lenses had a crack in it. He also had a Cobold, that was clad in scarab themed blue and black armor tied behind him. He was giving instructing to the Cobolds with weapons on what to do with prisoner.

And then he looked up and the world froze for a second.

Bart sprung into motion first. By now he was very nearly Wally’s height. Which meant that when he hugged Wally, he enveloped Wally. M’gann was at the pair’s side a moment later.

Tye and Asami stood back, hands held, not wanting to break the moment, but definitely feeling disappointed that it wasn’t Jaime who had walked through the entrance.

That was when the alarm rang out, Reach intruders were approaching.

**

Jo Nah couldn’t really put together a coherent timeline. He knew he fought the Reach in his little modified escape pod. Then he guessed that the Reach must have captured him. For the next hours, days, were nothing more than a blur. Shocks made him feel lighter than air, or tougher than steel, or stronger than a space whale.

The tedium changed when he was awoken by a rapping on his pod door. He opened his eyes to see a guy that he had never seen before but recognized very well from stories told and that one photograph that Tye kept in his phone, Jaime.

His voice sounds hoarse and strangled when he said a short line in Reach. Jo Nah managed to catch himself before he fell forward.

“We’ve got to move. There are ships,” Jaime took a breath, coughed and pointed.

Jo Nah nodded, “Ok, are there any other prisoners?”

Jaime shook his head no, and began to run. Jo Nah followed close behind him. Jaime twisted and turned through the hallways of the Reach ship. Confident in his direction. Every so often they would hit a closed door. And Jaime would wheeze out another line in Reach to open it.

And as they ran, they could hear the shouts of Reach soldiers, feel the ground shake slightly with their footsteps, and see the occasional glances of light from their weapons. In addition, Jaime was slowing down. Not that he seemed unsure of where he was going, but he was starting to cough.

Jaime reached the next door before Jo Nah did. But instead of opening it, he just slid to his knees coughing. Trying to catch his breath enough to speak.  He couldn’t.

Jo Nah was soon beside Jaime, listening to the approaching guards, and the rough breathing of his rescuer.  He just wished he was strong enough to do something, anything.

And with that Jo Nah took an action that would perhaps be considered petulant and childish, if when he punched the door, it hadn’t blown open a hole. But since his punch did do far more damage than he was expecting, he instead got to look like some kind of hero.

Jaime gave a wicked smile, and Jo Nah easily hauled him to his feet. Together, with Jo Nah supporting Jaime and punching through doors, and Jaime pointing the way, they made it to the launch bay.

Jaime was already in a fighter, and was prepping it for launch with a combination of whispered verbal commands and button pressing. It looked to Jo Nah, like he knew exactly what he was doing. Until he would hold his hand just a second too long over two similar looking switches.

Then the ship jerked, and it had nothing to do with anything Jaime did. Jo Nah looked out and saw a contingent of Reach soldiers with weapons aimed at the ship. Jo Nah didn’t hesitate. He jumped out and between the soldiers and their escape. He just needed to be able to take a few of those hits, and give Jaime enough time to launch. Someone had to make it out.

Jo Nah squeezed his eyes shut and braced for the impact from their weapons. He heard them fire, but felt nothing more than a tickle. Maybe Jaime had gotten the shields up. He hadn’t. And Jo Nah saw in the next volley of shots that they were just bouncing off of him.

“Get in!”

Jo Nah wasted no time, although it was much harder to pull himself up then he remembered. If he was stronger… At the speed of thought, Jo Nah was able to lift himself easily into the fighter, but the blast that grazed his leg definitely drew blood.

Jaime issued the command for the hanger doors to open, and they flew out. They descended at the maximum safe speed. Jaime was trying to get as far down into the atmosphere, and therefore breathable air before the following Reach fighters destroyed their escape.

And he did. Barely. Jo Nah had time to think invulnerable, and cover Jaime before their ship broke apart around them.

They fell.

The wind rushing by them was deafening, ripping away any words.

The ground was rushing up to meet them. Jaime seemed to be getting heavier, and kept saying fly, we need to fly, before he could no longer talk.

Jo Nah’s invulnerability wouldn’t do Jaime a whole lot of good when the hit the ground. What he needed to do was to fly.

The wind died down, and Jaime began to get lighter. His eyes were shut and breathing shallow, as the blue and black melted off of him.

They landed roughly.

Jaime kept his eyes closed and just focused on his breathing. Jo Nah however looked out over the vast expanse of swamp and treelike plants feeling completely lost.

“I really wish I could navigate to my ship.”

Nothing happened, no new power overwrote his ability to fly.  But it was worth a shot. Jaime however lifted an arm and pointed. Jo Nah didn’t think twice, he grabbed Jaime again and set off in the direction indicated.  

It was the right call, and it did not take long for Jo Nah and Jaime to arrive at the abandoned craft. Jo Nah attempted to ignore the fear he felt at not seeing the team there as he ushered Jaime inside and made him lie down.

Jo Nah left for about a minute to grab some water for him. But when he got back Jaime was already sitting up. He had an orange headband in one hand, and his eyes were narrowed.

“We’ve got to find them.”

  
  



	8. Unite all of the Allies

**

Tye pushed his way forward, the ceiling here was again far too low to facilitate his growth. But  once outside he was sure that he could give the Reach a run for their money. Asami ran beside him, jumping over the Cobolds that Tye ran around.

This was important, according to Wally’s rushed explanation, because the Reach warrior that he had captured might be their only key to finding Jaime. Jaime who had been taken captive. And Tye was not keen on allowing the Reach to get their hands on him again. Tye had said that last time too. But once they got Jaime back, because they were getting Jaime back, Tye would sit on his friend before letting him get near the Reach again.

Bart, Wally, and M’gann had stayed behind to interrogate the Cobold infiltrator to hopefully get useful information before the Reach could take them back. M’gann had taken a couple of seconds to establish a psychic link. Mental communication, awkward and freaky, but Bart and Wally seemed comfortable enough.

Not that it mattered since the Reach were not going to get past him.

Tye exited the Cave. He relaxed. He grew. The golden light of his Astral form surrounded him, lifting him high into the air. He placed himself in front of the cave entrance.

Asami stood at his feet, ready to block any Reach foot soldiers that got past him.

And then, in his mind’s eye, he saw the approaching Reach. His stomach turned and and his form wavered slightly. This was not an army of approaching foot soldiers. This was a contingent of Beetles.

Shit.

He had had enough trouble with Black Beetle. There was no way he could take on four at once. But he had to. He would.

His form grew strong. He had to focus. His only goal, his only worry was that they could not reach the cave.

The first one approached, large, familiar. Focus.

It angled around him and towards the entrance. Tye slammed his hand down and the warrior bounced off of his palm.

Tye braced for the sting of a sword or plasma cannon on his astral form. It never came.

Instead another warrior, smaller, blob shaped. Very familiar. Hewn from stone. Focus.

Tye had to quickly shift his foot. Again no retaliation. But two more Beetles came out of the woodwork.

It was like trying to keep a group of cats away from a dish of tuna. They never barred their claws, instead opting to use confusion to attempt to get around him. However the threat remained.

“ _Yamete_ ” he heard Asami shout.

Tye stayed in front of the entrance, pleasantly surprised when the Beetles did, infact, stop.

“You,” she said in English, probably for his benefit Tye realized, “are from the Gibble homeworld, yes?”

The Beetle she pointed at nodded, a strangely human like gesture on the Gibble before it answered, “we are called Khaji Ro.”

“You are one of Jaime’s allies.” She continued, it was not a question.

“Yes, we, we all follow the teachings of the Great One, Jaime Reyes and Khaji Da, the Blue Beetle. But he is missing…”

Tye felt relief wash over him, and began to shrink. Asami continued talking.

“We know he was taken by the Reach” she said with venom. “Allies are interrogating one who was there.”

“It won’t work” Khaji Ro stated flatly, “A scarab on mode cannot defy the Reach.”

Another Beetle, the larger one who had first tried to get by, spoke. “However we do have a way to rip the information out. But we must hurry, as who knows how long that information will stay relevant.”

Tye let Asami focus on their potential allies. He focused on reaching out over the psychic link and informing the rest of the team what was going on.

Wally was there within seconds. Giving his Cobold allies an explanation of what was going on, and guiding the group back to the prison cell. Along the way back he told them the news that Tye was dreading. M’gann had been unable to make any process, apparently the scarab was too much of a machine for her to read, and the host either didn’t have any relevant information or even mentally could only parrot what the scarab told it to.

The Beetles talked among themselves. They used the alien Reach tongue that M’gann could not translate. Though Tye could still get a feel for the conversation since she was still able to translate their body language.

It was Khaji Ro who spoke first. Tye thought that they sounded nervous or unsure. One of the Ctarls also seemed shaken by what they said. The other Ctarl, the one in black armor who had spoken earlier was determined, when they replied. And Tye figured whatever that Ctarl said must have gotten through to Khaji Ro based on the way that they steeled themself.

M’gann broke off for the psychic contact with the captured warrior, and Khaji Ro approached. Without hesitation, long mechanical limbs whipped out of their body and attached themselves to the Cobold infiltrator. Tye saw that same uncertainty, before the Gibble seemed to decide on a plan.

After a few tense moments, the armor on the Cobold pulled back and they fell forward. Khaji Ro went towards them, but a harsh word from the Ctarl stopped them in their tracks.

They responded in Reach, and the argument went of for a few tense moments. Tye did not dare to take his eyes off either of them.

Then the Ctarl strode towards the cell. Khaji Ro responded by raising their cannon.

Tye could hear his heart pounding, but he dared not move for fear of breaking whatever truce was keeping the two from attacking each other.

The standoff was broken by the Ctarl speaking in English, or at least a language that M’gann could translate.

“Perhaps then you can explain to _them_ why you just blew our best chance of saving the Great One, our best chance for saving this and every other planet.”

Khaji Ro did not back down, but followed the change in language.

“You know that is not what the Great One would have wanted.”

“You agreed to the plan.”

Tye did not dare to breathe when the Ctarl responded. The animosity hung thick in the room. Out of the corner of his eye Tye saw one of the Cobold scouts pop his head in the room. They must have quickly gotten the message of how dangerous things were, for they ducked out and ran soon after. Whatever message they had had was left undelivered. It was Khaji Ro who broke the silence, speaking softly and calmly.

“We were scared, we all were scared. But Djo Zha surely you can see…”

“They,” Tye saw the Ctarl, Djo Zha gesture up, gesture towards the Reach, “have him now, what does it matter. We must do what we must.”

“And what we must do is uphold his teachings.”

“And at what cost, do you think he would be willing to let thousands of planets remain in slavery so you could feel better about yourself.” Djo Zha sneered. Before stepping forward, their armor forming into some form of gun that Tye had never seen Jaime use. “But perhaps there is still enough time to pry the information out, move aside.”

Tye took a step back, willing himself to become calm and focused. He could not grow large here, but if he could at least get some of his astral form, he might be able to protect himself and others from any stray blasts. He heard his heart pound and then slow. He heard Bart and Wally both shift ready to move. He heard footsteps approach, two maybe three pairs. He heard M’gann’s breathing steady, and Asami’s shoes creak as she crouched.

“No.” Khaji Ro broke the silence and raised their plasma cannon. Tye could hear the hum as the weapon charged.

Tye waited. The footsteps got louder, closer.

“What exactly do you think that you are doing?”

Tye’s eyes snapped open and his form fell. He knew that voice, that tone, hardly more than a whisper with each word clearly enunciated. Jaime was standing between Khaji Ro and Djo Zha, ignoring the raised weapons, and giving them his best impression of Bianca’s glare. It was nowhere near as intimidating as his mother’s but apparently the two Beetles did not know the difference.

Khaji Ro lowered his weapon, and Djo Zha made a small laugh. Jaime turned on them and they quickly threw both hands behind their back.

“Is that a strong-force disrupter?”

“Um…”

“Is. That. A. Strong. Force. Disrupter.”  

Djo Zha gave up trying to argue and the weapon disappeared.

Jaime moved his hand to his head as if he was going to adjust non-existent glasses. A move Tye noted that his mom often made. He opted instead to squeeze the bridge of his nose before taking a breath and continuing.

“We don’t. We can’t. If we just use force to settle disagreements, if we come to blows when things don’t go our way, how exactly are we any better than the Reach.”

Both of the fighting Beetles looked down, and Jaime walked past them, towards the Cobold infiltrator. He knelt beside them, and Tye moved forward. Not to interrupt, but despite what he had just seen he was not keen on Jaime, especially since he still had not called his armor, being surrounded by these Beetles. They already had a loose perimeter formed around the pair. And Tye had to move carefully to get in. Out of the corner of his eye he saw both M’gann and Bart ready to intercept if things went south.

Tye was not really paying attention to what Jaime was saying. Mummering about responsibility and lack of blame for Reach controlled actions. He saw the Cobold gently reach forward and touch Jaime’s neck with the back of their hand. He saw Jaime gently grab the wrist and push it away.

Eventually he stood, the Cobold rising behind him.

Jaime spoke again, quiet. “Thank you Khaji Ro, you did good. And thank you Djo Zha, for your concern. Today is a good day. We have a new ally.”

Jaime coughed, reaching out to the wall for support. But Tye got there first, slinging Jaime’s arm over his shoulder. With his friend by his side, he didn’t really care what the other Beetles did. It was only now that Jaime seemed to notice the others in the room. His expression changed to horrified, then to embarrassed before settling on relief.

“A lot of new allies,” Jaime corrected, “But we need to prepare now, the Reach have an armada here. We will have to move quickly and I need…”

“Dude,” Tye cut him off. Just being near Jaime gave him the strength to ignore the Beetles protests that he was not allowed to talk to the Great One like that. “The only thing you need right now, is rest.”

Jaime opened his mouth to argue, but Khaji Ro started speaking first. “The Rude One is right, although it would be understandable if you did not trust us after…”

“Of course we do. You all will,” Jaime looked at each Beetle, “will make me proud, I know it. Khaji Ro, can you hold down the fort for a while.”

“Of course Great One.”

Jaime nodded at them and pushed away from Tye, walking tall as he exited the room. Tye remained close, giving a small nod to Asami, and Jo Nah, who must have come in with Jaime. The Wally also caught his eye, inclining his head in the direction of his cot, before Tye left. He was glad that he was at Jaime’s elbow, for as soon as they got around a corner and out of site of the room Jaime leant heavily onto Tye. His head landing with a small thud against Tye’s shoulder.

“Dude, are you ok?”

Jaime cracked a small grin. “Getting there. But what are you doing here, it’s dangerous _hermano._ ”

“Yeah, it’s dangerous. That’s why I’m here.”

Jaime fell silent, and Tye eventually found Kid Flash’s bed. He guided Jaime over. And Jaime sat down on the edge, head in his hands. Tye sat next to him. Not bothering to tell Jaime to rest just yet. Instead he waited for Jaime to talk, it definitely felt odd to have their normal roles reversed.

“So, how badly did I screw things up?” Jaime eventually mumbled.

“Well, some head Reach guy, their Negotiator I guess, was having a conniption when he complained over the intergalactic communication lines. And it only got worse when Guy pointed out that according to their treaties they couldn’t make a move.”

“So you’re not here because Earth is being threatened?”

“No.”

Jaime sighed, “What about the planets of the Gibbles, and the Ctarls?”

“They’re both fine.”

Tye wasn’t at the right angle to see Jaime’s face, and by how silent he had gotten Tye wondered if Jaime had fallen asleep sitting up.

“You should leave.”

“Right sorry, you do need to rest.” Tye apologized.

“No, this planet, you should get out of here.”

“What? No.”

“Tye,” Jaime started turning his head so he could meet his friend’s eyes. “Things are about to get real bad. The Reach are amassed around this planet. I don’t even know what we are going to do about the contaminated water supply here. Oh, and I can’t access my armor.  We are screwed, Tye. And I can’t let you stay here while everything goes to hell.”

“Then you better come with me when I leave.” Tye stated.

“I can’t, this is my responsibility. I have to see it though. I…”

Tye stood up. He then put a hand on each of Jaime’s shoulders and pushed gently until Jaime was lying down.

“Then you must realize that I’m not leaving. No one from the team is going to leave you either. Like it or not.”

“But…”

“Everyone has to make their own choices right. No one is forcing me to be here Jaime, it’s my choice. And I don’t think you’d be the one fight that.”

Jaime groaned. “You know, I have an army and really powerful armor, yet I still can’t win an argument with you…”

Tye laughed, and Jaime gave him a small smile before finally closing his eyes.


	9. Battles Won and Battles Lost

Bart had been hesitant to approach Jaime since he had come back from his rest. Not that Jaime was driving him off, Jaime himself was just distant. It was the other Beetles, they had taken to flanking Jaime wherever he went. Like some kind of super powered secret service. Not that Bart could begrudge their caution. It they weren’t following Blue closely Bart was sure that he would be.

They met up in a room sectioned off from the rest of the compound, the Cobold war-room. The majority of the room was taken up by a large round table, covered in various papers and surrounded by stools. The walls were also covered in notes, and the entire room was well lit by light sources hanging from the carved ceiling. 

The group meeting there was small, just Bart, M’gann, Asami, Tye, Wally, several of the Cobold leaders, and of course Jaime and his Beetles. Like with everything else, his Beetles sat flanking him. And even without his armor, Bart could not deny that in this setting Jaime looked intimidating.

Bart was not the only person to feel this way, for as soon as Jaime spoke, the whole room went silent.

“Djo Kanjar has been monitoring Reach communication,” Jaime looked at the Gibble sitting farthest from him, but when they made no move to speak he continued, “They’ve got a contingent of Scarab warriors, double maybe triple the size of our own. Not to mention a verifiable armada surrounding the planet.”

Jaime sighed, “the important thing is keeping these people safe and off the radar until they can get a signal out, throwing off the Reach.”

“A signal,” he continued looking sadly at the Cobold resistance, “that won’t be immediately contradicted by the Cobolds who are mind slaves of the Reach. I don’t think that they realize that I am not the only one who can free scarabs. We will get time to act and plan if…”

“No” Tye cut him off.

Jaime’s serious facade broke for a second. Well, far less than a second. Bart was pretty sure no one else except for maybe Wally could have seen the relief that had momentarily flashed across his face.

Bart was mildly surprised when none of the Beetles questioned Tye, who was now glaring at his friend. Jaime was the one who broke the staring contest with an explanation.

“I can’t just let them suffer because I brought the Reach army here…”

Wally stood and leaned across the table, cutting off Jaime, “Dude, do you really think that the Reach wouldn’t be here anyway if you were not attracting their attention.”

“Why would they? There are pockets of resistance everywhere, but the Reach protocol is to let them die out on their own. A handful of rebels can make a huge difference. I know that. But the Reach, they have seen millions of rebellions start and die. Why would your’s attract any more attention than those?”

Wally did not answer right away, instead he pulled out a glass vial full of a clear liquid. He tossed it to Jaime who caught it with one hand.

Jaime just raised an eyebrow before handing it over to Khaji Ro. Mentally, Bart ran through the possibilities of what could be in it. He just kept coming back to one thing, the cure.

Khaji Ro gently handed the vial back to Jaime and whispered something. Bart could not make it out, but Jaime obviously could. He held the vial gently, in two hands with his fingers curled around in in a protective manor. Then Jaime started laughing. It was quiet, but full of relief and joy.

Wally gave him a smirk, “As you can see, we have made our choice to fight the Reach. So you and yours can either get on board or get out of our way.”

**

Bart waited, hidden and crouched like an Olympic runner waiting at the line. He hated this plan. Hated it. He knew that it was their best chance against the Reach. But that didn’t mean that he had to like seeing Jaime, in that black and blue stylized suit with a spare set of yellow goggles, staring down the Reach Negotiator.

He had approached the army moments earlier, arms up. He had asked the Reach to leave this planet in return for his surrender.

The Negotiator had laughed in his face. He was still laughing as two Reach foot soldiers flanked Jaime. Each one grabbing an arm and forcing him to his knees.

That was it, Jaime’s Beetles surged forward. Four of them, two Ctarls and two Gibbles. They attempted to get to Jaime but were quickly grabbed by Reach controlled scarabs. They struggled greatly until the Negotiator brought an alien gun-like weapon to Jaime’s head, pressing the muzzle to his temple.

The Beetles froze, leaving only their claws extended in a seemingly useless symbol of resistance.  The claw tips just barely scratched their captors armor. Bart also noticed that none of the Reach paid them any mind. Even the Beetles’ captors looked without focus off into the distance, and not at their captives. No pretty much all eyes were on Jaime himself.

Bart’s muscles tensed. The only thing stopping him from sprinting in at that exact second and body slamming some Reach scum was the confident grin still planted on Jaime’s face.

The Negotiator returned the grin, pulling the gun back, but still keeping it trained on Jaime.

“You are a brave little pest. In the end you are ineffective and useless. But still brave.”

Jaime didn’t respond so the Negotiator laughed and continued. “It’s cute really, distract us while your defective scarab friends attempt an ambush. Almost a plan. And maybe if you had thousands of years of experience you might be a threat to us…”

There was a burst of static from the communicator in Bart’s ear. And Jaime’s communicator must have done the same. Since the Negotiator reached out and grabbed Jaime’s hair, yanking his head roughly to the side. Jaime didn’t fight when the Negotiator released his hair and tore the communicator from his ear.

Crushing it between his fingers, the Negotiator gloated, “And there goes your back-up am I right?”

Jaime continued to grin, and the Negotiator frowned. He grabbed Jaime’s hair and jerked him forward, out of the grip of the foot soldiers. The Negotiator leaned in as well, so that their faces were mere centimeters apart.

“Let me predict your future boy, we will figure out how you subverted the scarabs. And our scientists will not be gentle. By the end of the day you will be begging us to kill you.”

Jaime’s grin never faltered, but he did glance away first. Bart saw where he looked. Not at him, Jaime would not risk revealing his hiding spot. But rather Jaime glanced at his lieutenant Khaji Ro. And Bart saw the armored Gibble’s eye flash.

The Negotiator must have missed this, for he simply dropped Jaime with contempt. Jaime landed in an awkward kneeling position, but still when he spoke all eyes were on him.

“Let me predict your future _extranjero_ , by the end of the day none of these scarabs will be slaves of the Reach.”

In the space of a heartbeat, the Negotiator raised his gun and fired. If Jaime had some grand plan, the the Reach absolutely could not let him complete it. And although Jaime was no longer being held, he was positioned awkwardly, not able to dodge or roll out of the way in that short amount of time.

But then again, thats why Bart was here with the distraction instead of with the rest of the team. A heartbeat was more than enough time for Bart to spring into action. Race across the field and grab Jaime. True, Bart was still not as strong as Wally, but he could half drag Jaime far enough to get him out of danger.

They stopped just as Jaime’s Beetles flew off, leaving their captors kneeling on the ground. Eyes wide as if they were facing some kind of existential crisis. Which, Bart guessed, they were. A small force of Cobold rebels also sprang into action taking on the foot soldiers.

“I don’t suppose I can convince you to hide for the rest of this battle?”

“No way _hermano_ ”

“Didn’t think so,” Bart said before disappearing for a half second. During which time he tackled a Reach soldier and stole their lance like energy weapon.

“Which is why I got you this! You can use it right?”

Jaime took the stolen weapon and asked aloud “how do I even hold this?”

Bart was about to answer that he had no idea, when Jaime shifted his grip and fired off a test shot into the air. Bart chided himself, of course he was talking to the scarab.

Jaime nodded at Bart, and Bart returned the gesture. Together they made a beeline to the closest downed scarab warrior. Jaime knelt down next to them, talking and swaying them to his side. Bart stood guard, taking down any foot soldiers that got close. Once the newly freed warrior stood up and joined Jaime’s Beetles, they moved on to the next one.

**Earlier**

M’gann had just received a signal from Jo Nah. It was go time.

She glanced back at Asami who had gotten the team into a Reach communication center. Asami found a hidden opening that allowed the group to sneak in, and was currently guarding that opening.

M’gann had to hold back a laugh, finally their stealth team was actually using stealth, and as an added bonus no one had blown anything up. Well, not in this group. Jo Nah and the freed Cobold infiltrator had spent a lot of time blowing up Reach doomsday devices. Turns out they were much easier to destroy before they were activated. And that was the signal that they had just received. The last device had been destroyed. That meant that at this second, Blue Beetle would have just started distracting the Reach. If all eyes were on him, then the Reach would not notice that they were declaring independence until it was too late.

Wally and several of the Cobold leaders worked on the intergalactic signal. Meanwhile Tye watched over M’gann’s shoulder as she contacted Earth. M’gann really wanted to run their plan by someone who knew intergalactic law. Because she was pretty sure that if it would allow Reach backlash onto the planet, Jaime would not go for it.

So it was a relief when Guy answered the call. Right away, almost as if he was waiting for it. Hello Megan. Of course he was. Of all the superheros, Guy was apparently the only one that Jaime had talked to about his plan. M’gann was sure that all of the conversations took place using paper thing hypothetical statements. But still that was more than anyone else got.

M’gann reported their situation as concisely as she could.

Guy paused and thought, and seeing him like that made M’gann wonder how differently the initial Reach invasion would have gone down if Guy was not off planet at the time.

“Honestly the entirety of the Justice League could help kick Reach tail on a planet that declared independence and the Reach would not risk retaliation. But ‘theoretically’ there’s a reason that he cut ties with everyone on Earth. So you help him after this planet declares independence, fine. But then the next planet he tries to free could cause the Reach to show up at our doorstep again. Doesn’t mean they’re going to, it would be a drain on them ’cause Earth ain’t exactly a sitting duck. But here’s the thing, kid’s making them nervous. They want, and I mean really want him out of the picture. And Ted, well he always did warn us that cornering an enemy makes them do more stupid reckless and dangerous stuff.”

“Do you really think that they are getting desperate?”

Guy hummed, “Thats not my specialty, not really. But judging from some of their recent transmissions, and the war preparations going on in the Green Lantern Corps, yeah, probably.”

M’gann nodded, she placed the small electronic device she was carrying around her neck on the table in front of her. Once the independence declaration went out, that was the device that would alert Bart and Jaime that it was done, and thus safe for Bart to help Jaime. But now, now they had to think about this a bit more carefully.

“So you know the plan, do you have a suggestion?”

Guy shrugged, “That’s not really my thing. I’m good at hitting things and thinking about hitting things. Navigating politics, not so much.”

“I’ll move into range of my telepathy, once we get the all clear,” M’gann explained to both Guy and Tye who was still standing by silently watching this conversation, “Let Jaime choose what he wants to do.”

Tye’s frown deepened and M’gann explained, “Any earlier and if I get caught, they’ll be able to use that as an excuse to come after Earth. We both know he would blame himself for that.”

Tye grumbled, but he didn’t challenge her logic.

M’gann returned her focus to the screen. To finish her conversation with Guy. But he was facing away from the screen, hands held up in a placating manner, before slinking away from his seat. Artemis, in her Tigress outfit came into view.

“Having fun?”

M’gann laughed, it was good to hear her voice. “Oh, you know, the usual rehashing it with old enemies on their home turf.”

“How long are you going to be gone? We’ve been missing you.”

“The end of this battle, that’s going to be all we can do.”

Artemis gave her a sad smile, but whatever speech she was going to make was cut off by a chorus of cheers.

“What was that?”

“My guess,” M’gann replied with a grin, “is that we just completed an essential step for freeing this planet from the Reach.”

“Your guess is correct,” Wally confirmed, having sped over to where she was standing, “Independence has been accepted.”

It was then that Wally noticed who was on the screen, his grin got wider, “Hey Babe!”

Artemis froze for a split second before whispering, “Wally? How?”

“Just tell Nightwing that I was right, transporter not disintegrator.”

M’gann could not help but grin at that answer. Even if the reason that he had that reference was her fault. It was good to see her friend crack a smile. They’d been rarer since Wally disappeared. She hoped that this would help Nightwing out too. Epically with everything going down in Gotham recently, he needed some good news.

M’gann did not spend long thinking about it though. She was jerked back to the here and now by a burst of static, the all clear signal.

She spun around. Tye was holding the device that she had put down, the one that would tell Bart and Jaime that is was safe for Bart to make a move.

_/Tye?/_ She reached out to him with the equivalent of a telepathic whisper, opening a private channel so that he could respond in kind.

_/I had to./_

_/What happened to letting Jaime make that choice. You don’t know what he would have chosen./_

Tye continued to glare _/I do. That’s why I did it./_

_/He’d want to get help and then drop out of the fight?/_ M’gann responded incredulously.

_/No, he’d want to fight alone, to sacrifice himself out of some misplaced guilt. He tries to carry the weight of the world, the universe on his shoulders. Any sacrifice is worth it to save others. But, just once I want to be the one to save him, you know. /_

_/He’s not going to like this./_

Tye gave a short humorless laugh, _/I know, but I don’t care, not really. If he hates me that’s better than the alternative, better than him being dead. So yeah, maybe I’m taking away his choice to continue fighting, or maybe I’m opening up an option he didn’t believe he could take before. Maybe now he can choose to come home./_

M’gann floated up, turning invisible and shifting through the wall _/I understand, but if I get within range before they make their move, I am telling him./_

_/Fine./_

M’gann flew as fast as she could, remaining camouflaged as she approached. She heard the sounds of battle before she saw them. And as she got closer she had to start dodging the scarabs that were fighting each other. Jaime’s scarabs and new ones that she did not recognize seemed to be gaining the upper hand on the remainder of the Reach’s scarabs.

She wanted to wait until making visual contact before establishing a link, to make sure she did not distract him at a critical moment. Besides now that she saw there was a battle going on, Bart had probably already started helping Jaime.

Her suspicion was confirmed when she saw the two of them on the battlefield. Jaime was kneeling next to a downed scarab, one she did not recognize, and Bart was guarding his back.

Once Jaime helped that scarab to it’s feet, M’gann established contact. The die were already cast, no there was no need to talk to Jaime about Guy’s warning, at least until after the battle was over.

_/Things went perfectly at the communications center, you need any help here?/_

_/Right now we’re crash/_ Bart answered quickly _/But stay nearby, just in case./_

Jaime gave a small nod, _/Right, more hidden backup, would not be a bad thing./_

M’gann watched as the two of them moved onto the next downed scarab. The Cobolds seemed to be doing fine against the Reach soldiers. So she just kept an eye out, as Jaime gave each recently freed scarab a pep talk and got them back into the fight. On his side now, not the Reach’s side.

It was the fourth downed scarab when M’gann noticed something odd. Halfway to them Jaime planted his lance in front of him and tried to make a sudden turn away. A split second later she heard him curse over the psychic link, which was enough to let her know something was wrong.

Bart realized it too, and he raced forward and tried to drag Jaime back. It didn’t go as well as expected as the downed scarab had already locked onto their movement and fired the plasma cannon.

M’gann pulled them out of the line of fire telekinetically. She decloaked and engaged the Reach warrior, who had been sitting out most of the battle just to get a shot at Jaime. It was not a fun fight, as they quickly analyzed and reconfigured their gun to some form of flamethrower.

But Bart was soon there too, and Jaime was using his stolen weapon to fire from a distance. Between the three of them, they managed to keep everyone relatively unharmed until no less than seven of Jaime’s scarabs attacked at once.

Once that scarab was freed the Reach Negotiator started clapping. It took less than a minute for the entire battlefield to face him.

“You won this planet, and beat us back, fine. We’re leaving.” He spoke with a twisted smile that did not match his words. “But know this Jaime Reyes _of Earth_ , the next planet you try to enact your little rebellion will not be so consequence free for you.”

Jaime stood straight up, jolting like he was hit with an electric shock.  The Negotiator just laughed.

“Do you think any empire, any other race spanning the stars will be happy about an Earthling leading the charge, deciding where they can or cannot live. You show up on another Reach planet and we will be well within our rights bringing the fight to your home. So enjoy this victory, for the war is ours.”

The Negotiator spun, and headed for his ship. Head held high, and posture strong in defeat. Jaime, in victory, sunk to his knees and balled his fists.

The Reach left without incident.

It was Bart who broke the silence first, “So now what?”

“I… I don’t know”

Silence Bart and M’gann were silent as the scarabs whispered among themselves. It was Khaji Ro who finally spoke.

“Great One, now we believe it is time for you to leave us.”

“But that’s not fair. I got you all into this mess. And now. If I had thought a bit more. If I hadn’t relied on the support…” Jaime glared at the ground.

Khaji Ro spoke again, gaining confidence, “If you did not have their support, you would still be gone to us. And we prefer this way to you being dead.”

M’gann spoke next, calming, “Besides this might be the best thing that could happen.”

She thought of all of the recent attacks, they were all focused on Jaime, not his army. From the poisoning the prevented him from transforming, to the amount of attention paid to his surrender, to the scarab that sat out of a battle it could have helped to win just to take a shot at him, to this. Everything the Reach did seemed to be to take him out. They seemed to think that if they stopped the head the rest would fall.

“How exactly is this a good thing?” Bart questioned, “I mean they did win they took out their big bad bogeyman and all we got…”

Bart went quiet at he came to the same realization as M’gann.

“All we got was like ten more scarabs and the planet that can counter their mind control drugs.”

Jaime picked himself up off the ground, “And they’ll be too busy drinking victory martini’s or whatever to notice us.”

Jaime turned to look sheepishly at the other warriors, “ _You,_ they’ll be too busy celebrating to notice _you_ until it is too late.”

Djo Zha finished the thought, “With this many of us, we can split up, take our time and then free a dozen planets at once. That kind of blow could be the momentum that we need to really turn the battle to our favor.”

Jaime nodded, and gave one final order. “Do it.”


	10. Epilogue

Jaime’s return to Earth was uneventful, if a little boring. His Scarab warriors, his plan, was now completely out of his hands. He knew that they dispersed soon after he left, but he had not, could not have any contact with them. After months of fighting all he could do was sit back and hope that the plan was working. That they would remain alive and hidden from the Reach until the time was right for them to mount a surprise attack.

Also to add to Jaime’s boredom, Jo Nah had apparently remembered how bad he was looking on the Reach ship and insisted on bed rest for the beginning of the trip. And Jaime was not surprised at all when his friends went along with it. Tye especially was by his side a lot. Keeping him in bed and talking with him, focusing mostly on going home. And Jaime had to admit he did look forward to seeing his home and his family again.  

His family was grateful to see him too. And it was that homecoming which cemented his guilt in leaving. Not that they saw it that way. Their hero, saving people as best he could and then coming home. That was all they could ask. He had about a week of reunion until they started pestering him about college and career goals. Jaime didn’t want to tell them that he didn’t think about it at all because he was not sure he was coming back. Still they must have realized.

So they took college searching from the top. He’d talk over choices while he helped his dad at the garage, or with his mom after she got home from her shift at the hospital. They kept a big map on a corkboard in the kitchen. Marking out the cities with colleges they wanted to visit with a pushpin, planning a massive father son road trip to check them all out.

Also after he got back both Tye and Asami stayed in town. They or Bart would show up every time he left the house. The first couple of times he thought it was a coincidence.

He would probably have kept on thinking that. But Scarab asked Jaime to thank them. And that was when he realized that they were keeping an eye on him while the armor was down. Once he realized, Jaime had to admit he was mildly annoyed, although he kept it to himself. But come on, it wasn’t like he hadn’t lived fifteen years without the armor and couldn’t take care of himself.

It was on a hot lazy day late that summer that he realized exactly why they were watching over him. He and Bart had stopped by an arcade to just pass the time, while staying in air-conditioning. They were spending their time on a racing game, because trying to compete with Bart in DDR was completely not fair, when a punk with more entitlement than common sense entered. He ignored the teens in the back and went straight to the owner, pulled out a gun and demanded cash. It took Bart less than a second to take him down. He was back behind the wheel of his virtual car before Jaime had time to say that they needed to do something.

Ok, so maybe they weren’t concerned for him as much as concerned he was going to pull some heroic stunt without his armor. Jaime couldn’t really begrudge them that, and it was nice to know El Paso was in good hands even if Blue Beetle couldn’t jump in at the moment. Not that it hadn’t survived the time he was gone just fine. But still, if Jaime was there, he could not just stand by when people were in trouble.

Nevertheless, it was a relief when he finally got word that it was safe to fire up the armor again. Jaime might have been back for a month but now so was Blue Beetle. Not to mention that delay probably did wonders for his secret identity.

It wasn’t too long after that when Nightwing, of all people, showed up at his door again and asked if he wanted to join the team again.

Jaime laughed in response, “I’m pretty sure I told you all not to contact me for joining either the team or the Justice League.”

Nightwing just grinned. “And I am pretty sure that you did that just to keep the Reach off of our backs. Which isn’t a problem anymore. Besides I wasn’t really on the team at the time anyway.”

Jaime nodded. There was no alien attack this time. Although when he went back to the Watchtower for the first time the entire team did surprise him with a party. Organized by Bart and funded, apparently, by Batman. It doubled as like the third welcome home party for Wally and, between the two of them, Bart and M’gann they spent most of the time talking about their cool alien allies.

That was when things finally went back to normal, well as normal as a superhero’s life can get. Jaime ended up choosing Central City University. The winters were not quite as cold, and they did have a great biology program, which would be a perfect segway into dental, medical or nursing school after his four year degree. Jaime wasn’t quite sure which he wanted to do yet. His armor allowed him to protect people and could fix his injuries, but Scarab was not all that great with healing others. So some form of medicine would be helpful and interesting to both of them.

He juggled school and superhero-ing moderately well. Most of the time major threats did not come up right before an exam. (And to be honest, being in Flash’s hometown meant that for the most part either Flash, Wally, or Bart would take care of a threat before he even heard about it. Which was great in allowing him to focus on his work.)

Except when a massive, all hands on deck, alien attack took place the night before his Junior year finals started.

They were not the Reach, that was all Jaime knew. He had been called into space, as one of the handful of Earth’s heroes who could fight there. His goal was to defend the planet before the attackers could get near. Most of his friends were on the ground and Jaime was partnered with Guy Gardner staring down an armada of drones. The first wave of what was, according to Batman, a huge invasion force.

So Jaime floated back to back with Guy, summoning his weapons while Guy manifested a giant fist.

“So,” Jaime asked not taking his eyes off the opposing force, “I thought we were getting Green Lantern backup for this.”

“Oa is a little busy right now with Sinestro,” Guy replied, cocky grin still in place, “Besides, I’m all the butt whooping badassery that we need.”

Jaime rolled his eyes, “What we need is an army.”

His statement could not have been better timed, as it was punctuated with a large contingent of enemy drones being blown up by some very familiar looking Beetles.

The two of them just watched, but it was Guy who broke the silence first, “Crap kid, you leave for several months and come back with an army like that?”

“They are not my army.”

Guy let that stand, until one of the Beetles approached. A familiar face to Jaime.

Khaji Ro saluted, “The Khaji Da Revolutionary Army awaits your orders Great One.”

“Right” Jaime addressed Khaji Ro, straightening his back and squaring his shoulders. “I want two groups. The first group should be the best infiltrators that we have. I need them to move behind enemy lines and cut control of the drones. The second group will join with the heroes of Earth. Provide a distraction for the first group and make sure none of the enemy forces touch the ground. Understood?”

“Understood,” and with that Khaji Ro flew off back to the amassed Scarab warriors.

As the tide of the battle began to turn in their favor Guy looked over and just gave Jaime an incredulous look.

“Really? Not your army?”


End file.
